Steel Revolution (CannedReboot!)
by NarayanK
Summary: After isolating himself from Runeterra for three entire years, Mordekaiser steps into a world convoluted with conflicts, controversies, war, and ghetto skeleton people. With Runeterra changed and countless of situations he had never thought about facing, the lord of undead finds himself fighting an entirely new battle. Hopefully, the iron man would remain safe and healthy.
1. Master of Metal!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Riot Games and League of Legends. The following work is a story that uses League of Legends' contents, and will not be distributed commercially.**

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"_Fear is confusion, pain is clarity." –Mordekaiser, the Master of Metal_

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Runeterra: a world driven through controversies, undiscovered creatures, and countless dangers that lurk beneath its surface.

Those who were raised in the cities of the supercontinent known as Valoran had listened to many kinds of tales. Some tales followed the life of a man who lifted an incredibly heavy door to protect his people from arctic dangers. Other stories followed along happy journeys made by tiny creatures known as yordles, though there were occasionally some creepy myths of how some yordles were devoured by unknown creatures.

The more mature stories followed the lives of people within two powerful city-states under a never-ending battle that stemmed from an old rivalry; Demacia and Noxus. Whilst Demacia had many tales of fulfilling justice and bringing hope to its citizens, Noxus had its own share of unique tales for its thieves and black-market villains. Of course, most of Noxus' stories ended with some sort of bloodbath.

Nearby Valoran lay Ionia, an island that only wishes to be free of Noxus' relentless invasions. And at the tall heights of Valoran remained the peak of Mount Targon, where many noble warriors have visited to gain strength from gods of war.

But Runeterra itself was not the focus of _this _particular tale.

For in Runeterra, a dark, dark place that no sane man dared to venture into existed.

The **Shadow Isles.**

Whoever went in never went out. The Isles consumed unlucky travelers swept into its black sands, and darkness lurked at every corner of the place. Monstrosities and abominations thrived in such a dead world. Whereas the light of Demacia would bring hope to its people, only dread awaited for those who resisted the Isles' power.

The light existed as a mere dream in the dark islands. All of the Shadow Isles' tales ended tragically for every single protagonist. Nothing but death awaited, and if not death, something far, far worse stood by, waiting to haunt the visitors of the Shadow Isles with things worse than death itself.

Perhaps death itself was too fearful to put the restless souls in peace…

* * *

…But little did everyone know that the Shadow Isles was… different from what they thought it was.

The isles were not littered with graves. And the light did, in fact, exist. And if Demacia was the prime emblem of peace, honor, and justice, the Shadow Isles was the twisted symbol of guns, stealing, and ghetto skeleton people stabbing everything in sight.

Deep within the Shadow Isles, many buildings had its lights turned on. Some of the buildings had colorful lights pointed out of its windows to annoy every single driver on the city's roads, and there were random people selling Star Wars Holiday Special DVDs scavenged from a Piltoverian ship that crashed into the Isles. And one of the citizens rode a skateboard, zooming past a bunch of people eating pizza with no hands.

Equipped with his warden uniform, scythe, and lantern, Thresh flew past an undead horse that had a Hello Kitty badge on its rear.

Thresh, the Chain Warden, had recently gained a position amongst the Ruined King's ranks. The honor of being a Chain Warden… was subpar. For there was no honor behind how Thresh treated his prisoners, and he did not even know what honor was in the first place. Reading a poorly drawn comic book made by himself, the bony undead warden turned his skateboard without looking up, avoiding an incoming car composed of wooden wheels and an airboat engine.

The Shadow Isles lacked class, and that was what its people were supposed to be known for.

Unlike many city-states and countries, the Shadow Isles did not have to invent anything new due to the fact that new things kept on floating into the dark lands. The Ruined King ruled over the Shadow Isles with absolute authority, but even he had some of his own problems.

His personal officers were no exceptions. Thresh lacked nearly all forms of respect towards everything. Yorick, a gravedigger, had recently begun to carry Shadow Isles' visitors into their pathetic deaths because he had nothing else to dig for. Karthus, a lich who conducted various researches, enjoyed using submachine guns because "magic could get complicated."

And next to the Ruined King were his left-hand and right-hand. These two figures boasted power, speed, wit, and a whole package of patriotism to the Shadow Isles. Hecarim, the Shadow of War, loved the Isles and its people more than anything. Despite being called the Shadow of War, Hecarim despised inequality and wished to see every lifeform on Runeterra to stop fighting. Perhaps it was because of his desire to quietly hack-and-slash through each and every one of the living beings like a delicate ballerina.

Next to the war centaur was a mysterious figure encased in a full set of armor. His face still unknown to even his own people, the armored general of Shadow Isles was nearly the polar opposite of Hecarim. While the Shadow of War enjoyed spending time with his people, the iron man found social activities to be too pesky for his own enjoyment. He preferred to live alone, and tried as much as he could to isolate himself from the rest of the world.

Though he did not always hate showing himself to his own people, one day, the lord of undead vanished, never to come out of his lonely castle for days, months, and years.

Three years had passed since then.

The Chain Warden dropped himself off of the skateboard he stole earlier, the keys hooked onto his belt jingling ominously. As he held onto his lantern, the lantern-wielder slowly walked down a dirt path that led him out of the active city.

It took thirty minutes for Thresh to reach the Castle of the Master of Metal. He had not seen the iron man in three years, and to celebrate their reunion, he brought a chalkboard that had "YOU SUCK" written on it.

"If this doesn't work," Thresh muttered to himself, looking around as he approached the dark, metallic castle, "I'm just going to give him a basket of grenades the next time I come here."

The Master of Metal's castle had dozens of dead trees surrounding its massive structure. Its distance from the city made everything all too quiet. Ravens stretched their wings as they searched the trees for food, but none of them went close to the iron castle.

Jingle, jingle, jingle. Only the jingles of Thresh's keys, along with his footsteps, made the slightest of noises.

Surprised at how nothing about the castle had changed, the Chain Warden walked up to the massive gates… only to realize that they had remained open for decades. The iron man never closed his doors to those who wanted to face him. He was more than welcome to hasten the process of death, after all.

The Chain Warden found the massive hallway's design to be aggravating for his eyes. Everything in-and-out of the castle was made of metal. No marble floors, no concrete walls; nothing but metal existed in the Master of Metal's castle.

"Ey, METALLICA," Thresh shouted. "Nice castle! Now get your crap together and show yourself, dude."

Thresh found it strange to find that his voice did _not _echo in the room full of metal.

What he found stranger was how a familiar voice responded to him from the middle of nowhere.

"Get out of here, Thresh. I'm busy."

"Busy?" The Chain Warden asked, baffled by the lord of undead's choice of words. "Busy?! No, seriously, what the heck could you preoccupy yourself with for three years, man?"

The iron man immediately roared,

"DOUBLE KILL! _**F#$%**_ _YEAAAAAH!_"

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"…DOUBLE KILL (LOL)?"

Detecting the sarcasm behind Thresh's rhetorical question, a door at the very end of the hallway burst open. Smashed off of its hinges, the door skidded all the way toward Thresh, who raised a bony eyebrow(?) at the object. Looking back up, the Chain Warden grinned.

Donning a full set of spiky, silver-colored armor, a large figure left his room with some sort of controller in his hand. His eyes glowed deathly red, his pose that of a highly respected Shadow Isles officer.

Thresh snickered as he added into the lord of undead's flashy reappearance,

"What's up, _Mordekaiser?_"

The Master of Metal cracked his neck, his eyes locked onto Thresh as he walked straight up to the Chain Warden. Putting some distance between them, the Shadow Isles general growled,

"Thresh, you _**imbecile. **_I'll have you know that I just… executed two men who attempted to take my belongings. If you would like to kindly join them, feel free to do so; I won't stop you."

"So basically, you shot down two guys in Counter Strike 1.6 again?"

"WHAT?! HOW THE HECK DID YOU KNOW?!"

"I constantly met a guy called 'xXmuertekeyze71Xx' in my favorite server."

"Huh?" The Master of Metal asked, looking at Thresh as if he were crazy. "What're you talking about? I don't know some Ex-Capital-Ex-Mordekaiser-Seventy-One-Capital-Ex-Ex."

"I said muertekeyze, not Mordekaiser."

"Oh."

The two stared at each other, not knowing what else to say.

Attempting to change the subject and avoid imminent humiliation, the lord of undead shook his head, returning to his grumpy attitude.

"Anyway," Mordekaiser grumbled, "if you're here, then that probably means the Ruined King wants something."

Thresh's grin turned into a full-blown smile as he cackled. "You're quick to catch on," he said as he twirled his lantern in place. "The Ruined King wants to see you, Morde'. He has some interesting things to talk ab-"

"Thresh, your stupid lantern is hurting my eyes. Stop it."

The Chain Warden stopped spinning his lantern. While Mordekaiser seemed satisfied, Thresh himself suddenly looked as if he wanted to kill a kitten.

"Happy?"

"Oh yeah. Now, continue."

"…Ugh. Anyway, the Ruined King wants to discuss with you about something. He said something about… traveling. And possible wars."

"…? War?" Mordekaiser asked. "Holy sh_**#%**_, people are STILL declaring war in this day and age?! _**WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!**_"

"_**BLAME THE KING FOR THAT, NOT ME!**_"

The Master of Metal blinked.

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"…Okay, then," he said. "Let's go."

"Alri- wait, you're going _now?_" Thresh asked in surprise as he saw the lord of undead return to his little room.

Mordekaiser chuckled, his back turned to Thresh, as he glanced at him with one of his glowing eyes.

"**If it's **_**war **_**we're talking about, then I will gladly return to my king.**"

An ominous laugh followed after his statement. Turning to his room, the lord of undead vanished back into darkness.

He had been waiting for the Ruined King to call upon him.

* * *

**STEEL REVOLUTION**

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Steel Revolution has received a reboot! Now, a couple of things.**

**The first reason as to why I am rebooting the story is that this could let me make things a little more accurate to Riot's current lore. Another reason was because of continuity.**

**The original Steel Revolution sort of spiraled out of control to the point where I myself could not focus on finishing certain chapters without cutting out fun parts. This put a lot of pressure on my motivation to continue the story. Thus, despite the fact that I decided earlier NOT to reboot the story, I have changed my mind for the sake of bringing a better story.**

**I know there are a lot of unanswered questions, but feel free to send me Private Messages if you want to directly ask them! I am used to answering PMs frequently, so don't be afraid. I may include more things in the next Author's Notes if there are very important things to clarify.**

**And as always, Feedback Is Appreciated!**

**-NK-**


	2. The Problem Children And Their Missions

"_This is merely the beginning. No mortal army can withstand the might of the Shadow Isles." –Hecarim, the Shadow of War, during his infamous Dread March_

* * *

Mordekaiser cracked his neck, knuckles, ankles, wrists, fingers-

"Ow, sh_**#%**_. I should stop popping my fingers…"

The lord of undead stood in his dark room, encased in his steel armor of dread. Only the analog television he found at the shores of the Shadow Isles lit the room, barely bringing light to his metallic sofa. Empty cans of Mountain Dew and crunched bags of Doritos stuck out unnaturally from the single trash can in the living room.

The television that lit the room had the words "You have been disconnected from the server" etched over it.

With a click of a button, the lord of undead turned off the video game he had been playing. His eyes glowing deathly red, the Master of Metal put on his tattered cape before turning to leave his room.

"I guess it's time to go now," he grumbled to himself.

Walking out of his room, Mordekaiser left the now doorless entrance of his room. Thresh, the Chain Warden, waited outside of the castle for him. The lord of undead took his time walking down the gigantic hallway that filled a huge majority of his castle.

"That was faster than I thought," Thresh mused as he watched the lord of undead finally leave his castle in three years.

The Master of Metal's armor glowed brightly, reflecting the green light generated by Thresh's strange lantern. Armored, equipped, and prepared; Mordekaiser looked as if he were ready to destroy legions of soldiers for fun.

Eying the enormous mace latched onto the iron man's back, the Chain Warden jerked his head towards the direction of the Ruined King's castle. Soon, the two left the lonely steel castle. As Mordekaiser left without turning around, the gates of the castle slowly sealed the place shut.

Mordekaiser, after all, was expecting something that could possibly take up a lot of his time.

* * *

It took a while to get to the Ruined King's castle by foot, so Thresh casually stole a car made out of orange juice cartons.

"This car is so Dole," Thresh remarked as he drove with one hand, his unused arm resting out of the stupid vehicle's window. "It's too fresh and smells tangy."

"Thresh," Mordekaiser said with a hidden malice behind his tone, "shut up."

"No, really, Morde'; I haven't seen such a Dole car in a long, long ti-"

"_**Holy CRAP, THRESH! GET OUTTA THE WAY MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE-**_"

"Huh? What're you talkIN ABO_**OUUUUAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**_"

Almost breaking apart, the car made of orange cartons swerved out of a speeding motorcycle's way. Spinning out of control, the orange car began to spin its way towards a single direction.

"THRESH," Mordekaiser roared angrily, "IF YOU'RE GOING TO STEAL SOMETHING, _**STEAL SOMETHING WE CAN USE, YOU NINCOMPOOP!**_"

"_**THAT'S LIKE TELLING ME TO GET AN ELDER SCROLL INSTEAD OF A HISTORY BOOK, YOU NOOB!**_"

At that moment, Thresh remembered something that he needed to show Mordekaiser. With an unnerving calmness, the Chain Warden took out a chalkboard with the words "YOU SUCK" written on it.

"'Ey, Morde."

"Ye?"

When the lord of undead saw the chalkboard, he nearly punched Thresh out of the car. Fortunately, the little amount of sanity within Mordekaiser knew that punching the warden would ultimately leave them causing an even bigger ruckus.

Thresh began to slam his foot against the brakes. With a rhythmic pattern of slams, the Chain Warden put more and more strength into each kick.

"Why. Won't. You. Stop. You. Stupid. Car. A_**#%**_. Sh_**#%**_. F_**!$%**_. D_**%#&amp;**_!"

"…What's a Car-A_**#%**_-Sh_**#%**_-F_**!$%**_-D_**%#&amp;**_, Thresh?"

Right when the Chain Warden tried to ask Mordekaiser about what he just said, Thresh found his foot piercing through the car, sending his foot straight towards the asphalt beneath the vehicle.

"_**AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! HOLY CRAP! OMIGOSH! MY FOOOOOOOOOT OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW-**_"

"Thresh, pay attention to the road!"

"-…Oh, now it'd be really nice if the car stopped DRAGGING MY FOOT OFF OF SAID ROAD, MORDEKAISER!"

The lord of undead turned to Thresh with a blank look, his eyes completely unfazed at the sight of Thresh's leg sticking out of the car.

"I don't care," Mordekaiser said with overwhelming honesty.

Thresh looked back at him, temporarily forgetting about his painful situation as he replied,

"Good."

After ten minutes of driving an uncontrollable car, the ride eventually ended when the vehicle crashed against a tree. Both of the two Shadow Isles officers sat still on their plastic seats for a brief moment before leaving the car.

As Thresh limped after the Master of Metal, the lord of undead looked up at the Ruined King's castle. It looked gloomy, dark, yet grand as ever. Mordekaiser found himself smirking at the sight of the dreadful castle.

"At least it's good to know that some things don't change," the iron man commented to himself, walking into the castle.

* * *

To say that the Ruined King's castle felt "large" would undermine its true size. Bigger than the personal castle that belonged to Jarvan III, the current king of Demacia, the castle had no soldiers patrolling the cold halls, for the place was already dangerous enough for mere intruders to walk through. Mordekaiser felt nostalgia fill his inner thoughts as he passed by several places he remembered going through.

Of course, the lord of undead did not actually spend _three entire years _doing nothing but games. Sure, he did play games for an unbelievable amount of time, but the Master of Metal himself did do his fair share of maintaining his strength. Once in a while, he would travel through the darker sides of the Shadow Isles and put some unneeded beasts into eternal rest. He had been waiting for the Ruined King to call upon his powers once more.

After going through the castle's cold halls, the Master of Metal finally found the old meeting room he always met his comrades in. Without any hesitation, the lord of undead opened the door.

"…and then I just left the stupid Demacian quivering, cause we all know those Demacians quiver all the time in front of us," a familiar voice cheerfully said. "In fact, I would've- huh? Oh! He's here!"

The Master of Metal chuckled at the sight of a spectral war centaur stand up to greet him. It had been a long time since he saw Hecarim during his three-year absence. Karthus, the lich mage that always complained about people using his stuff, looked exactly the same, and the Gravedigger, Yorick, shared the same quality of never seeming to change.

"Mordekaiser! How long has it been since you showed your metallic face here, eh?"

"Good to see you too, Hecarim," the lord of undead responded to his loyal comrade.

Karthus looked up from the book he had been reading as he immediately spoke, "Dude, Morde', can you tell Thresh to stop playing at my house? He broke my freakin' television!"

"We can replicate those things now, Karthus."

"Yeah, Doofus."

"Shut up, Thresh."

Yorick merely waved at Mordekaiser, who waved back. He then looked up to the man who had called him out.

The Ruined King, in all of his undead glory, stood at the other end of the room, his arms crossed. Equipped with an ancient set of armor, all of Shadow Isles knew of his power over all of the lands the people stayed in. An old crown rest on the powerful being's Corinthian helmet. The king's blue eyes glowed at the sight of the Master of Metal's return.

"We have been waiting," the King said calmly, "and now we welcome you once more with open arms."

"And I you," the Master of Metal spoke, bowing slightly to pay his respects to the Ruined King. Lifting his head up once more, the lord of undead rolled his neck around before looking at the king once more.

"We shall proceed," the Ruined King began with authority in his voice, "to hold this mandatory Shadow Isles meeting."

Everyone stopped what they were doing and immediately took a seat at the round table that stood in the middle of the room. Mordekaiser sat across the Ruined King.

Silence filled the room as the Ruined King picked up a paper he had written specifically for the meeting. Reading over the information written on the document, the powerful ruler of the Shadow Isles looked up at Mordekaiser before looking back at the paper. Soon, he put the paper down again.

"All of you are going to Valoran. Meeting dismissed."

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Karthus scratched the back of his head as he turned to Hecarim, who turned to Thresh because he did not know what on Runeterra he could do. The Chain Warden turned to Yorick, who looked as if his mind was blown, before turning to Mordekaiser.

The Master of Metal blinked.

"Say what?"

"I said," the Ruined King said, "you are all going to Valoran."

"…When?"

"Tomorrow."

"Why?"

"I'll tell you later."

"Where?"

"Demacia."

"How?"

"Boats."

"What if there are no boats?"

"What if I had one?"

"I'm hungry."

"…"

"…"

Mordekaiser and the Ruined King turned to Thresh, who raised his hands out of mock guilt. Muttering a small "sorry," the Chain Warden slumped down his chair.

"It'd be nice," the Master of Metal slowly began once more, "if you told us why on Runeterra we have to go to an entire continent that hates us."

"…"

Despite the fact that he just finished the meeting, the Ruined King answered as if the meeting did not end,

"There are several things I would like you all to do. The first thing is for a research revolving around Valoran's political condition. I want to know everything; I want to know what's going on, as there's been recent news of a possible war erupting between Demacia and Noxus. I want to know the status of Piltover and Zaun's unstable relationship. Send me a fully detailed report on Valoran's condition.

"The second thing I need you all to do is to track down Heywan Relivash."

The Shadow of War curiously asked, "Who is this Relish you speak of?"

With the snap of his fingers, the Ruined King instantly summoned an old newspaper article made in Demacia, sliding it down the table for the five Shadow Isles officers to see. All of them stood up and leaned over the article, their eyes set on a very pretty woman waving at the camera.

"No, not that picture," the Ruined King mumbled, motioning them to look below the picture.

Beneath the pretty lady's picture was a hazy photograph of a man being arrested by Demacian soldiers. The man wore a golden suit, two gauntlets of gold, and a golden eyepiece that covered his left eye. He also had spikey white hair, though it seemed messy due to rough treatment from the soldiers next to him.

"And here, I thought it was another wife-stealing mission…" Thresh grumbled as he sat back down first. The other four officers soon followed suite. His interest piqued on Relivash's apparent arrest, Mordekaiser looked up at the Ruined King.

"I presume there is news of him escaping or some sorts?" The Master of Metal asked. "From the things I've heard about him, Relivash always had second thoughts on everything; and it is highly likely this applied to this… arrest issued by those Demacians."

The Ruined King shook his head.

"No, Mordekaiser," the ruler gave his answer. "Relivash is dead."

"So what kind of business do we have with a dead man?" Karthus asked, slightly confused as to where the direction of their new mission went.

"Relivash's death," the Ruined King continued, "occurred right after his imprisonment for causing the Kalamandra scandal. I know how he died, and I know where he fell. What I don't know is what he was looking for outside of his prison."

"…_Outside _of his prison?"

The Ruined King glanced at Yorick before explaining, "Heywan Relivash was found dead on a ship coursed towards Bilgewater. He had his head rest on his floor while he let his body rest on a chair. Demacian troops apparently raided the suspicious ship and executed him at the scene.

"What those stupid mortals didn't think about was why he held possession to our Unholy Grail."

At the mention of the Unholy Grail, all five of the officers sat straight up, surprise written on each and every one of their faces.

"_**The Unholy Grail?!**_" Karthus exclaimed. "By all that is unholy, you're not talking about Athene's…"

"He held onto Athene's Unholy Grail," the Ruined King growled, "which is supposed to be something we were holding onto since a millennia ago. This means that he had business with the Shadow Isles _without _our consent."

The Master of Metal finally knew why the Ruined King called him. If the Unholy Grail, which had gone missing not too long ago, fell into the hands of a _mortal outside of the Shadow Isles_, then that meant someone went into their islands unnoticed.

But…

"The Shadow Isles," the lord of undead stated, "never misses the presence of life entering its shores. If that is the case, I think that Relivash himself is acquainted with someone from our lands."

Everyone gave the Master of Metal their attention.

"There is no way a mere mortal's presence could go by unnoticed, even if they used some sort of cheap magic to cover themselves up. Not even immortal mages could use their magic to enter the Isles without getting any of our attentions. Thresh can detect life at great scales, Hecarim can feel the emotions- mostly dread- of others, Karthus knows the Isles inside-out, and Yorick knows how the island naturally shifts its forms. And you, my king, can do all four of those things.

"_There is a __**traitor **__from the Shadow Isles._"

The idea of a traitor coming from the Shadow Isles felt disturbing to think about, but they knew what the lord of undead spoke of. Life never went by unnoticed, and only fellow undead were truly able to go in-and-out of the island. The more they thought about it, the more sense it made.

What confused them was what a living being could possibly offer to a dead man, or what a dead man could possible want from a living being.

"I have noticed no one suspicious in particular," the Ruined King spoke up after a moment of silence. "The only thing I have seen, however, is the Unholy Grail going missing only several weeks ago."

Hecarim raised his hands as he stated, "Didn't see anything here."

"Neither did I," Thresh murmured, turning to everyone else with a curious look.

"Same here."

"Nothing from me."

The lord of undead glanced at all of his fellow officers before turning to the Ruined King.

"So we need to track down Relivash's history?"

"…At the very least, yes. His corpse should be located in the cemetery built specifically for Demacia's prisoners. They may call it honor, but I see it as an action that holds us back from business that we need to deal with. Claim his carcass, remains, ashes- anything that we could gather information from."

"Other than the issue of the Unholy Grail," Mordekaiser asked, "is there any more things to find in Valoran?"

The Ruined King sat still, his glowing eyes slightly brightening.

"Yes. The last thing I would like you to retrieve before returning to the Shadow Isles are representatives from each country and city-state on Runeterra."

"I'm sorry, my lord, but we don't give a sh_**#%**_ about that."

"Okay."

With the meeting technically over, the Chain Warden was just about to complain about something related to anti-wifestealers striving in Demacia, the meeting room door opened ever-so-slightly. Everyone turned to the door and saw a dark-haired woman with blue eyes peeking into the place.

"May I enter, milord?" Kalista, the Spear of Vengeance, asked with respect.

All six of the room's men answered,

"You may enter."

"Come in."

"Sure."

"I don't even-"

"Git 'atta here, scrub."

"Do as you please."

The Ruined King and the four officers glared at Thresh before turning back to Kalista. The Master of Metal motioned for the woman to enter the room.

"I have come to bring dire news," Kalista explained, twitching ever so slightly. She had the tendency to twitch whenever something bad happened.

The Ruined King tilted his head at this. "And that is…?"

Taking a deep breath, the Spear of Vengeance explained,

"We ate all of the cream puffs in Shadow Isles, and now the people are demanding for more."

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"…Oh, look a cookie- er, I mean- …"

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"…"

The Ruined King slammed the table as he growled, his focus on gaining his officers' support greater than ever.

"**Bring in as many cream puffs as you can when you return to the Shadow Isles. No exceptions.**"

"_Yes, my king._"


	3. Horse Ship

"_Beware the Ides of March." –The Soothsayer (1.2.103)_

* * *

A large ship covered in sea shells, rust, and metal slowly distanced itself from the Shadow Isles.

Keeping the Ruined King's word, the Shadow Isles officers departed for Valoran the day after the meeting. They had packed enough of their belongings, and soon, the men found themselves on the ship. The ghost ship was guided by a soul directly trained to control the ship by itself, allowing Mordekaiser and his comrades to do nothing but wait.

The lord of undead stood at the back of the ship, staring at the islands that grew smaller and smaller. There were several factors that made him worry over the mission.

First things first, all of the Shadow Isles officers were stupid to some extent. Even Karthus, one of the most intelligent beings to ever exist in Runeterra, had the stupid tendency of bringing out guns to solve matters that require magic. If Karthus brought out guns, then everyone else was capable of doing things far worse than illegally bringing firearms to Demacia.

Another thing Mordekaiser felt worried about was the lack of things to destroy.

He really did have a joy for destroying things. Destruction defined the Master of Metal's primary profession, and without it, the lord of undead was just a video-gaming tin can lazing around a lonely castle. If he was not allowed to destroy _anything at all_, then the iron man planned on destroying a kitten for the sake of destroying things.

The word "Destroyer," after all, fit him more than anyone else.

Then there was the fact that the five men of Shadow Isles were not the only ones who departed for Valoran-

"**LORD MORDEKAISER**_**.**_"

"_**ASDGHNEAIJCEW- **__Screw you, Kalista!"_

The woman known as Kalista bowed apologetically, her face remaining stoic. "Forgive us, Lord Mordekaiser. We have come to simply check up on you."

"Who taught you to check up on others like that?"

"Sir Trash."

The lord of undead raised an eyebrow at the Spear of Vengeance, who thought about what she just said before her eyes widened.

"I mean… Sir Fresh."

"At least you tried."

Shaking his head, the Master of Metal turned away from the dark-haired woman. As he continued to watch where the islands had once been, the Spear of Vengeance suddenly punched his back.

"…"

"Lord Mordekaiser-"

"Did Thresh teach you that as well?"

At this, the dark-haired woman blinked before nodding carefully. "Sir Fresh-"

"Thresh."

"Yes. Sir _**Th**_resh taught us how to catch the attentions of others."

The Shadow Isles warlord turned to her with a questioning look.

"It does catch attention, Kalista. But would it make them feel like responding without wanting to tear you apart with a morning star and send you to the moon?"

"…That sounded oddly specific, but no."

Mordekaiser nodded, thankful for how quickly Kalista learned. Compared to a majority of the officers, Kalista was fairly new to the Ruined King's ranks. In fact, the Master of Metal had just met the woman not too long ago for the first time. She apparently respected him to a large extent, though he did not know the exact amount of respect she held. The woman did seem easy to give orders to , though something about her felt… off.

"We have a question, Lord Mordekaiser," the Spear of Vengeance said with her strangely stern tone.

"And that is?"

"Is it true that you drank Mountain Dew on top of legion of dead Demacians while saying 'Cheers, mate!'?"

"Tell Thresh to go die in a fire and stay dead."

* * *

…

…

…

She opened her eyes in a world where she cannot speak.

Light peered through her room's frail window. Her bed glowed under the warmth of the sun, and the familiar image of her ceiling appeared once more.

The girl lay underneath an ocean-blue blanket of cotton, and above a hazy, gold-colored bed that complimented the glow of the sun. Her sky-blue hair remained still, each strand scattered to make an incomplete and messy half-circle on the bed.

Another day in her life at Demacia.

The woman gathered the strength to pick herself up and delicately slid off the warm bed. She brushed her teeth carefully, tied her hair tenderly, and dressed herself up in her silk-like clothes. The softly yellow tips of her ponytails followed her around like two glowing lightbulbs under the presence of the sun.

Leaving her room, the lady held onto a string instrument within her arms and walked, prepared to attend a day of work.

* * *

…

…

…

"'Ey, Muerte."

"Ye?"

The Master of Metal eventually brought himself over the main deck, where Karthus and Yorick played with old Pokemon cards. Bored out of his mind, the iron man sat next to Thresh, who was attempting to solve a Rubix cube.

"How do you solve this?"

The Chain Warden handed over the cube to the lord of undead, who put it on the ground and smashed it with his hand. And, lo and behold, the cube was solved.

Mordekaiser turned to Thresh with a smug look on his face.

"…What in the actual f-"

Right when Karthus nearly sent Yorick's Pikachu into a Requiem, Hecarim suddenly began to run around the ship, rocking the entire vehicle back and forth.

"WhooooOOAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHH SH#%! HECARIM, STOP RUNNING AROUND THE PLACE!"

"But," the Shadow of War said in disbelief as he ran in circles, "I saw a mermaid! I'm too excited, Morde!"

"…You saw a what?"

"A mermaid! You know, the kind of mermaid who has water-resistant hair?"

"…"

The Chain Warden suddenly stood up before jumping on Hecarim, causing the Shadow of War to move more erratically.

Everyone who was not riding Hecarim's back began to roll around the ship unenthusiastically.

* * *

…

…

…

A woman with sky-blue hair walked down a hallway that mimicked the sound of her footsteps. She held her ethwal with great care. The strings she plucked from the instrument allowed her to share her emotions to others, and she had done so for a majority of her life.

Memories of her past remained shrouded, yet she did not mind the life she lived. Her life as an orphan taught her to be strong even when she stood alone. Even now, she stood strong, no matter how weak she may have been.

Life at Demacia was a quiet one for the lady who plucked strings. Once in a while, she would meet the leader of Demacia's famed Dauntless Vanguard and have interesting conversations. She would also meet the Seneschal of Demacia, who shared tales of previous kings that once led the city-state. There were times when she met other interesting people. She knew of a strong half-dragon, a bubbly commander, and a quiet gargoyle who enjoyed serenity as much as she did.

Demacia embraced her with such open arms, yet she felt timid every day. She lived timidly by nature, always worrying over whether she made correct decisions in every problem she needed to solve. The lady was often called a "wandering bouquet of worries" due to her careful nature.

She wondered what exactly made her feel alerted.

* * *

…

…

…

Karthus played cards with Mordekaiser. Instead of using Pokemon cards, the two decided to play a classic game of Poker. Holding onto a pair of identical cards, the lich mage looked up at the iron man as he asked,

"Why are we on this ship if I could just use my magic to get us immediately to our destination?"

"…"

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Mordekaiser looked up at Karthus with a horrified expression.

"What did you just say?" The Master of Metal asked, almost shredding the playing cards he held onto instantly.

"I'm implying that there's no need for us to stay on this ship," the Deathsinger pointed out once more. "I have teleportation magic connected directly with several parts of Valoran. I just don't use it because there's the chance of us being spotted-"

"Karthus," the lord of undead said with pleading eyes. "Please, get me off of this stupid excuse of a ship. It's not even moving at five-hundred miles per hour."

"Mordekaiser, ships do not regularly move at five-hundred miles per hour unless they have airplane engines."

"What's a plane?"

Karthus cried.

Right before the Deathsinger explained what a plane looked like, the ship rumbled ominously.

"…"

"…"

Another rumble.

And another rumble.

Rumble.

Rumble.

_Rumble._

"…?"

The Master of Metal cautiously stood up, Karthus doing the same. Hecarim, who had stopped running around, burst out of a door leading to the ship's interior room.

"Hey," the Shadow of War asked as the ship began to growl out of all the rumbling, "is it me, or is something under the ship?"

"I don't know," Mordekaiser grumbled, taking his mace off of his back. "It doesn't sound pretty, though."

Thresh looked around the main deck with a scythe in hand, while Yorick took out his old shovel. At this point, the five officers had instantly prepared themselves for what felt like an imminent battle. Kalista ran out of the door Hecarim burst out of, a confused look etched on her face.

"What is going on?" The Spear of Vengeance asked, disturbed by the ship that shook frivolously.

"Kalista," Hecarim ordered with a commanding tone, "go tell the others to come outside."

A few seconds after Kalista ran into the ship, something burst out of the waters the ship stood on. Boasting a massive body, gallant wings, and titanium, blue scales, a massive dragon roared its way out of the water.

"And here, I thought this would be the worst trip ever," Mordekaiser commented with a menacing grin as he twirled his mace within his hands.

Thresh laughed as he placed a foot on a sealed barrel filled with chocolate candies, resting his scythe on one of his shoulders. "A mighty fine soul for me to collect! Mordekaiser, Hecarim; leave the killing blow to me, will you?"

The dragon that burst out of the water roared, causing a swarm of clouds to close the skies. Its eyes glowing an intense blue light, the dragon flew higher and higher before finally stretching its wings, forming a pose seen in many draconic storybooks.

The Sea Dragon screamed its way down towards the ship.

"Looks like it really is going to attack us!" Yorick shouted, his free hand glowing with pestilence and undead energy.

As everyone prepared to leap out of the way, Karthus cackled,

"Let us present this mighty creature with a song of death, gentlemen."

Holding their weapons close to themselves, every one of the officers leapt out of the way, allowing the dragon to crash into the ship. Fortunately, the ship was indestructible due to the magic the Ruined King cast upon it. Getting on its feet, the dragon roared once more before launching a gigantic beam of water around itself.

Thresh barely managed to duck, allowing the dragon to let its powerful water shred the barrel he let his foot rest on earlier. Looking up at the dragon, the Chain Warden shouted,

"Karthus! Ya got some ice magic or something?!"

Almost instantly, the lich swung his staff, sending a powerful orb of ice magic straight at the creature that invaded the ship. As it breathed water, the dragon noticed that the water it generated quickly turned into a pillar of ice that advanced towards it with great speed. The dragon stopped breathing water, only to have Mordekaiser find an opening.

Sliding sideways on his feet, the Master of Metal ran up and jumped on the dragon's tail, then propelled himself from the dragon's back, flipping twelve times in the air as he plummeted straight towards the dragon's head. Jamming his mace into the head of the dragon, the beast roared and tried to throw the lord of undead off, only to have the armored warrior grab onto one of its horns. After he spun around the horn several times, the Shadow Isles warlord proceed to send his mace crashing against the dragon several times, each blow threatening to shatter the hostile creature's head.

As the iron man directly confronted the dragon, Hecarim continuously slashed his dauntingly sharp lance at the dragon's direction. Blow after blow, the Shadow of War left frightful wounds on the dragon's body as the Master of Metal finally leapt off of the beast. Its eyes glowing blue once more, the dragon roared before leaping off of the ship.

The large creature swung its neck around, forming a strange ring of water before rapidly flapping its wings. Remaining in place, the dragon beat its wings at the ring, causing the ring of water to glow brighter and brighter.

"Back off," the Master of Metal growled to his comrades. "_I'll _handle this."

Gritting his teeth, the lord of undead twirled his mace a dozen times before smashing the main deck of the ship. He then raised his weapon and, as he reached down and tore out a piece of metal hidden underneath the wooden deck, had his eyes glow deathly red. Throwing the metal into the air, Mordekaiser gathered a respectable amount of strength, gripping his morning star with two of his hands.

When the water dragon roared and prepared to fire a massive beam of glowing hot water to melt the ship, Mordekaiser smashed his mace against the tiny piece of metal. The small shard flew quickly enough to bypass the spell right before it was activated, catching the dragon off guard.

"Now, Thresh!"

As if he were not listening to the iron man in the first place, Thresh threw his scythe as soon as Mordekaiser spoke. The scythe spiraled towards the dragon and dug itself into the beast's neck from a far distance.

"Hook, line…"

With a great strength that Thresh did not seem capable of using, the Chain Warden pulled the dragon down, sending it crashing onto the ship's deck.

"…and sinker."

_Snap!_

"…?"

…

…

…

_Crack!_

_Snap!_

"…Thresh," Karthus said with a fabulously monotone voice, "I think you just broke the ship."

"Wait, isn't this thing unbreakable?" The Chain Warden asked, nervous of the answer he would receive.

"I think," Hecarim muttered as he tapped the main deck with a hoof, "the only thing unbreakable is this giant platform we're on right now. Everything else is probably being crushed as we speak."

"**10/10.**"

Mordekaiser staggered as he held onto one of the rails of the ship… only to find the stupidly fragile thing breaking under his grip.

"Wow, this ship is horse sh_**#%**_," the Master of Metal commented.

Hecarim glared at him momentarily before asking Karthus,

"Karthus! Can you get us out of here with your teleportation magic?!"

"_**WHAT?!**_" The lord of undead looked at the Shadow of War and the Deathsinger as he asked, "And how did _**HECARIM **_know that you had teleportation magic?!"

"We all knew that Karthus had teleportation magic, Morde'," Yorick mumbled. "He showed it to us a year ago."

"…"

As the iron warlord slapped his face with a metallic palm, the ship slowly sunk into the water. Kalista finally burst out of the ship's interior with two other passengers. A pink-haired, blue-skinned woman and a red-haired, pale-skin lady followed the Spear of Vengeance. The redhead wore a white dress while the other woman wore… a white shirt with the word "Hoge" on it and short khaki pants.

Elise, the Spider Queen, politely asked Kalista, "Oh! What might the officers be doing with that dragon over there?"

"They are attempting to skin it alive," the dark-haired woman answered sternly, "but the ship is sinking because of that beast."

"And what are we gonna do about that?" Evelynn, the Widowmaker, asked as she scratched the back of her head. "Wow, am I seeing things, or is Karthus doing something cool for once?"

Kalista and Elise turned to the Deathsinger, who chanted some sort of ancient spell with energy crackling in his hands and staff. His eyes began to glow from the sheer extent of the energy that he gathered, and soon, rings of light surrounded all of the Shadow Isles officers.

The ship began to fall rapidly, parts of the fragile vehicle snapping apart ever-so-quickly. After dealing several powerful blows on the dragon, the Master of Metal backed away from the dragon, preparing for an imminent warp to whatever place Karthus would send all of them to.

Something strange happened.

Three seconds before the Deathsinger sent them all to Demacia, the dragon turned its neck, launching a beam of water at the lord of undead. Taken aback by the unusually fast movement the dragon made, the Master of Metal found himself getting propelled off of the ship, crashing through the rails that were unable to push him back onto the ship.

"Mordekaiser!"

Within mere seconds, Hecarim's words became but a mere blur, and the lord of undead, along with everyone else, vanished from the ship.

* * *

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* * *

The Demacian lady with blue hair yawned as she walked back to her room. Her work for the day was not particularly important, as she merely attended a discussion involving some of the prince's friends and personal officers. Tending to the wounded did make her day better, as she felt happy to help out the Demacian soldiers who bravely fought against the notorious Noxus.

Night had arrived so soon. Walking up to her personal room set up at the palace of Demacia, she sleepily opened the door. She felt tired for an unknown reason. A good rest seemed like a beautiful idea for her.

And a good rest would definitely prepare her for the day that would change her life.

* * *

**STEEL REVOLUTION**

* * *

**Author's Notes**:

**First things first, I would like to point out some good things wanted to ask.**

**Yes, I do plan on bringing many characters, each with their own important role! Though I will not be extremely specific about this, I hope you do look forward to seeing champions that you want to see.**

**Another thing is the lore I'm using.**

**The lore I'm using is based off of Riot's new lore, but at the same time, is modified for Steel Revolution's story. So while many confirmed lore points will be featured in the story, Steel Revolution will not be following certain things and may branch off to its own path. Since the rebooted Steel Revolution features Summoners who now have altered roles, it is highly likely that old lore points will be fused with the new lore to create a more linear and cohesive story.**

**And finally, Mordekaiser still believes in Brazil. You will witness it as soon as he shows it himself.**

**Thank you for continuing to read Steel Revolution! And as always, feedback is appreciated! (No seriously, it's like drugs to us authors)**

**-NK-**


	4. Settling Nothing Productive In Smash

An auburn-haired man sat still at what appeared to be both his workplace and his bedroom. His eyes traced hundreds of words, his focus never skipping a beat.

Being a part of the Demacian Supremacy Court usually meant that one would have to dedicate his or her life into serving the kingdom, but for Mercede, it was mostly a chore at peaceful times. In fact, paperwork actually soothed his mind, considering the particularly strange things he would see once in a while.

He was but a mere mortal. A middle-aged one at that, too.

"Hah…"

The Demacian officer sighed as he pushed himself and his chair away from the table, relaxing after he checked the last of the paperwork he was ordered to complete.

Mercedes loved the simplicity of the life he lived now. ...Actually, he was in no position to say that his current life was simple, as strange things always seemed to happen in his world.

He himself was a bit strange. That, he would not go into full detail.

Two hours ago, he just ended a debate that had yet to be settled with another Court officer. The man who served as his equal during the debate was not a particularly well-known officer, but Mercedes himself had to admit that the points he made for the debate were cohesive to his argument.

Said argument implying that Noxus should seize to exist, that was.

What Mercedes wanted was genuine peace between Demacia's rival nation, Noxus, and the city of honor he lived in. His opinion was a fairly unpopular one, however, for the Demacians and Noxians seemed to have delved too far into a competition that prevented them from settling their prides aside.

The man stood up, stretching his arm as he headed over to his closet.

Mercedes' room was quite compact, but not too small for him to the point where he would be unable to concentrate on his work. It was a perfect room for someone who barely moved around his room. He reached the closet within a few seconds as he opened it.

His usual clothes remained organized in respective hangars hooked over four metal bars, each of them categorizing his uniforms, his uniforms, his uniforms, and his-

_They're all uniforms. As much as I hate to see that, it'd look strange to see a t-shirt shoved between a bunch of royal robes._

The officer's eyes trailed over to a suit of steel armor; yes, a suit of armor standing in front of where his mirror was supposed to be. It stood with Demacia's glory, representing its honor through its devilish spikes. The horned helmet it wore displayed the sheer terror it struck through those who dared to bring demise over Demacia's people, and-

…

Mercedes blinked as he gave the suit of armor a closer look.

Now that he thought about it…

…_I never wore a suit of armor before._

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Two slits of red glowed underneath the suit of armor's helm. Slowly turning to the stunned officer, the steel suit straightened its back as it gave Mercedes a confused glare.

"Hm," Mercedes said out loud as he glanced behind him before turning to the suit of armor again with a smile. "Something bad's about to happen, right?"

The suit of armor instantly answered without moving an inch,

"**Yes.**"

"…Well," the auburn-haired man mumbled as he held a hand up at the suit of armor, "just give me a second to pack up my Gamecube for the afterlife. There's nothing else I can ask for."

Much to Mercedes' surprise, the armor suddenly raised a hand and put it on the officer's shoulder. Startled by the entity's action, Mercedes blinked as his eyes locked into the red slits that glowed under the deathly helmet of the suit of armor.

And it asked in the most intimidating voice he ever heard in his life,

"_1v1 me in Smash Brothers._"

* * *

It was an interesting day.

Mercedes was dueling a suit of armor that appeared out of nowhere in a game of Smash Brothers.

The two sat in front of a television placed right next to the worktable. The suit of armor expressed interest in why Mercedes wanted to hide the television as much as possible from the door, but the Court officer barely avoided the topic by proclaiming the game was ready. Normally, it took Mercedes a few minutes to prepare the Gamecube, but lo behold; the day before the suit of armor appeared, he played Smash Brothers and left the console connected.

As a familiar voice announced the name of the game at the title screen, Mercedes could not help but notice how giddy the suit of armor became. All second thoughts on the intimidating suit of armor were dispersed as soon as it gave Mercedes a death glare, as if to hurry him up and make him press the Start Button.

_Wow,_ Mercedes thought as he brought them to a character selection screen. _I'm actually taking the reality of a living, metal suit popping out of my closet challenging me in a game of Smash Brothers quite well. Maybe I'm kind of awesome?_

…_Actually, I think I'm just being just as freaky as this thing over here._

The auburn-haired man chose his trusty character Dr. Mario. He did not know whether the suit of armor knew how to play Smash Brothers, but regardless of whether he did know, Mercedes felt confident that he could win. After all, he was the same man who defeated one hundred Wire Frame Fighters in Cruel Melee, which contained considerably challenging fighters if one did not use any gimmicks. While he heard that there was an absurd record of eight-hundred Wire Frames made at Piltover… not everyone had the skill of Piltover pro players.

The suit of armor instantly selected Ganondorf and named himself "BR."

_BR?_

Curious as to what it meant, Mercedes glanced at the metal armor, who proceeded to change his character's color scheme. Fully prepared, the suit of armor turned to Mercedes, its eyes glowing as it spoke,

"I am Mordekaiser, the Master of Metal. You will not question the holy land of Brazil and its almighty ways. Am I clear?"

"No."

"Oh."

The suit known as "Mordekaiser" put up a thoughtful look as it raised a hand under its helmet as if to scratch its chin.

After a few seconds of thoughtful thinking, Mordekaiser turned to Mercedes as he spoke once more,

"I am Mordekaiser. I am a warlord from Shadow Isles, and I have come to kidnap Demacians and brutalize anyone who stands in my way. Am I clear, now?"

"…Yes, but I have one request."

"Oh? And that is?"

Mercedes cleared his throat before turning to Mordekaiser with a perfectly composed look.

"_**Please spare me.**_"

"Just start the game."

Deciding that being reluctant would get him killed, Mercedes immediately selected the Great Bay for the stage. He heard Mordekaiser rubbing his iron hands together as the suit of armor proceeded to hold a steel Gamecube controller that Mercedes swore he never saw in his room before.

As soon as the game began, Mordekaiser asked Mercedes,

"You are a Demacian, correct?"

Mercedes practically had nothing to lose at this point, so he answered honestly,

"I am a Court Officer of the Demacian Supremacy Court, and I'm a war hero."

"I bet that last part is a lie."

"Yup."

As Ganondorf jumped magnificently over a bunch of pills thrown by Mercedes' good doctor, Mordekaiser asked again,

"How about we make a deal?"

"A deal?" Mercedes repeated as his character got punched in the face.

"Yes, yes; a deal," the Master of Metal responded. "If I win, I will bring you to the Shadow Isles. If you win, I won't bring you to the Shadow Isles, but I might still kill you."

"So I'm going to get destroyed either way?"

"Seems like it."

"No, wait- don't _seems like it_ me. That's just unfair no matter how you look at it. I don't even know much about the Shadow Isles. Why would you want to kidnap me, anyway?"

Mercedes' doctor eventually retaliated by punching Mordekaiser's king of evil in the face. With his eyes glued to the screen, the iron man explained, "You do not need to know much about the Shadow Isles. All you need to know a lot about is Demacia."

"What if I don't know much about my own country?"

"That's like asking if you can't play Duck Hunt on an analog television."

"…"

The sound of button-tapping filled the room as the two men fell silent. Since they had four lives for their characters, the match took a fair amount of time.

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"…Ah," Mercedes muttered as he blinked. "I got your third stock."

"And I you, Dalmatian," Mordekaiser grumbled. The auburn-haired man would have laughed if his life was not on the line.

A few clashes later, Mordekaiser's king of evil knocked the good doctor off the map to the point where Mercedes' attempts to recover were apparently futile. The doctor fell into the depths of the right side of the map…

…Only to have a gigantic turtle spring out of nowhere and save him.

"WHY?!" The suit of armor suddenly screamed in rage as Mercedes began exclaiming random gibberish out of the sheer hype of surviving. "NO! I REFUSE TO BE DENIED OF MY _VICTORY!_"

"HA HA HA!" Mercedes shouted as he let his character menacingly approach Ganondorf. "THIS IS ACTUALLY MY SECRET TECHNIQUE! Using my sheer luck, _**I TIME MY SUPPOSED DEATH AND RECOVER ON **__**A GIANT TURTLE!**__**"**_

A few seconds later, Mercedes' character drove a fist into his opponent's face, making Mercedes the winner of the battle.

"I won," he said with a calm tone. He, however, was unable to wipe off the smirk that emerged on his face. If he were to die, he would die with a victory.

Death, however, was not going to take him so easily.

"No," Mordekaiser growled. "That was clearly my victory!"

"…I kind of agree with you, but I don't want to agree for the sake of my life-"

"_**I DEMAND A REMATCH!**_"

Mercedes screamed internally.

He knew he just got himself into a very, very weird situation.


	5. The Best Kind Of Disguise

A warmth, a chill, and silence.

Delicate, fragile, lucid. Like a crystal ball of nothing; like a mirror that only showed what others wanted to see. And she felt cold and warm at the same time.

Yes. Warm from the praises around her, but cold… She did not know why she felt cold.

A blue-haired maven remained still, standing on a white, perfect circle. Her shadow tainted the perfect circle's pure white color.

Her eyes shut, she sat without making a single motion of movement. In her hands lay an etwahl. Her etwahl spoke for her, and only her etwahl knew about what she wanted to say. It was her closest friend. But even the etwahl did not know why she felt cold, so the maiden decided to give up on finding the cause of the coldness she felt.

And in the end, the cold did not matter as much as warmth did to her.

She raised her delicate fingers

opened her soft eyes

and spoke through her music.

She performed a gentle tune; a tune that described her vision of "gentle." The emotion of tranquility washed over her, and she was soon absorbed by her own melodic words. She plucked with an admirable level of gentleness without performing too quietly. Her music made her out to be a gentle, fragile creature that loved tranquility.

And perhaps she was a gentle, fragile creature. Everyone wanted her to be a gentle person, after all.

Her speech of melodies came to an end in a slow, yet beautiful conclusion.

The sound of applause woke her up from her dreamlike state, and she soon found herself standing in front of a massive group of people. She stood in front of the audience somewhat fearfully, but she eventually found the courage to smile and bow.

She bowed to the people who listened to the voice she had crafted for her entire life.

...

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* * *

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"Mercedes."

"What?"

"This armor…"

"…? What, you have a problem with blue?"

"Yes. Give me a suit of red armor."

"…What."

"…? What, you have a problem with red?"

"No, it's just that the color red is nearly nonexistent in Demacia because Noxus uses it so frequentl-"

"Shut the f#$% up and give me a suit of red armor."

Mercedes sighed.

Mordekaiser wanted to crash at Jarvan IV's castle solely because he did not know where to go. To make things short, he was lazy as heck, and the Master of Metal intended on flaunting his laziness for no justified reason. It made Mercedes question the entire hierarchy of the Shadow Isles' soldiers.

What bothered Mercedes the most was that Mordekaiser wanted to be a "part" of the Demacian army. That itself was an impossible task, considering how each and every Demacian was not supposed to look like an armored warlord of the Shadow Isles.

So instead, Mercedes decided to give Mordekaiser a slightly less fancier job.

His bodyguard.

"GivememyredarmorgivememyredarmorgivememyredarmorgivememyredarmorgivememyredarmorgivememyredarmorgivememyredarmorgivememyredarmorgivememyredarmorGIVEMEMYREDARMORGIVEMEMYREDARMORGIVEMEMYREDARMOR**GIVEMEMYREDARMORGIVEMEMYREDARMORGIVEMEMYREDARMORGIVEMEMYREDARMORGIVEMEMYREDARMOR**_**GIVEMEMYREDARMORGIVEMEMYREDARMORGIVEMEMYREDARMORGIVEMEMYREDARMORGIVEMEMYREDARMOR**_-"

"**OKAY, I GOT IT! I'M GIVING YOU RED ARMOR!**"

The Master of Metal chuckled, which did not help subside Mercedes' annoyance.

An hour passed.

Mercedes eventually took out a red-gold suit of armor for Mordekaiser to wear. Funnily enough, despite claiming that it was his, the suit of armor looked far too big for the Demacian to don.

"Red," the Demacian officer stated, "just like you asked. I painted that myself, so if you have a problem with it, I'm f#$%ed."

"I have a problem with this."

"F&amp;$%."

The Master of Metal stared at the red suit of armor. Yes… The red color reminded him of the blood of his enemies. Red was surely a fine color to stare at brainlessly.

Yes. Brains were not needed to appreciate violence.

"Remember," Mercedes reminded with a serious look, "you can only go outside with my permission unless you want to start a war that might get me killed anyway. I'm not trying to claim ownership over you or anything; it's just for everyone's safety."

"You only need to tell me **once**, fool."

Mordekaiser flashed a sinister smile underneath his dark helmet. With this suit of armor, he would be able to slowly gather an incredible amount of cream puffs without turning Thresh into the most overpowered piece of sh#% ever. Yes… These cream puffs would certainly **not** contribute to the Shadow Isles' cause in spreading plagues and suffering in order to expand the tiny territory they hold.

…

…The more Mordekaiser thought about it, the more he noticed how stupid he might look to people around him.

But who was he to care about others in the first place? Especially when he's _gathering a motherload of cream puffs __**without**__ the usage of sheer terror?_ In fact, the mortals at Demacia needed to thank him just for the fact that he did not suddenly blow up the entire place to make his mission faster.

If one were to attempt to use sheer terror against him, however…

Mordekaiser snickered in the evilest way one could snicker. Mercedes snickered as well before wondering why he just snickered.

"So, uh-"

"Shut up, Benz," Mordekaiser abruptly interrupted Mercedes as he marched off to the entrance of the Demacian's room. "Let us test the effectiveness of this armor."

"…Right now?"

"Yes."

"Like… at this very instant?"

"Give me _**every single**_ reason as to why I should not go outside and test this suit of armor."

"…"

Mercedes sighed as soon as Mordekaiser slammed the door open while laughing like an insane idiot- an intimidating insane idiot, that is.

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...

Her performance ended.

Escorted to the same castle the prince of Demacia resided at, the maiden walked alone, her arms holding onto her precious etwahl. She walked uniformly, her pace controlled and her mannerisms intact. She felt tired. She needed rest.

Every day felt either too long or too short for her, despite many of them being the same thing in the end. She played her etwahl, she followed her comrades, and she healed the wounded. And while she felt like she was doing honorable tasks, she could not help but feel a bit dull. But she only felt this feeling once in a while, so she disregarded it skillfully.

Her eyes trailed off to a nearby bench in one of the many hallways at the royal castle. Though she knew that staying in her dormitory provided more comfort, she felt plentifully exhausted enough to be a bit selfish.

And so, the maiden rested at the bench, her body giving way to her sleepiness.

...

...

...

* * *

...

...

...

"Mordekaiser."

"What."

"You're going to Shyvana's dormitory right now. You better change your direction right now."

"Why? Is this Shyvana going to kill me with his uber-duber muscular arms or something?"

"…Shyvana is a female half-dragon."

"Damn it. I hate dragons. Come on, Benz. Let's go to that dormitory, then."

"Alri- wait, this is my dormitory. We're back at where we're started."

"I hate this place already."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**This is Part 1 of 3 of a particular update for this fic. The next two chapters will be released within this week.**


	6. Sona

_"Peace exists for evil as well." - Hecarim, the Shadow of War_

* * *

_..._

_..._

_..._

_A man stood with a tainted blade. He stood- stood within winds of conflict._

_Wind of serenity._

_Wind of anger._

_Wind of loss._

_Wind of motivation._

_He stood, stood amongst these winds, never faltering, never hiding. Never did he back down from the wind. It held many things precious to him._

_Because the winds took so many things from him._

_Wind._

_A man stood with a tainted blade. He stood- staring off into the golden sun, the peach-colored clouds, the countless mountains._

_He stood, stood with the blade that slew what the wind tried to take from him. He slew what should not have been slain, all because of the wind. Yet he was one with the wind, and even when it betrayed him, it refused to let him go. He was one with the wind._

_A man stood with a tainted blade._

_His name._

_An Ionian name._

_The name that sought vengeance._

_He desired to answer the question that eternally changed his destiny._

_And his answer lay in the heart of the Shadow Isles._

_His name. His battered and hardened name._

_He seeks to bring an end upon his destroyer._

_The destroyer in ghastly armor…_

_..._

_..._

_..._

* * *

...

...

...

Mordekaiser stood in front of a blue-haired maiden.

Several good minutes ago, Mordekaiser got so frustrated with Jarvan's confusingly large castle, he knocked Mercedes out with a single backhand and stormed away to traverse the place by himself. This action had quite a lot of risks behind it, but alas, Mordekaiser hated playing safe.

Jarvan's castle was so large, no one spotted Mordekaiser wandering by himself. He wandered and wandered like a deaf bat.

But then he discovered a strange little gem in the pile of needles.

_Holy sh%#,_ Mordekaiser thought, mystified by the woman before him. The maiden who dreamed held onto some sort of… harp thing, and her porcelain skin somehow contrasted with the almost repetitive structures of gold in the castle. But what caught his attention the most…

…was her hair.

The Master of Metal kneeled and took out a metallic camera. Without a single ounce of hesitation, he softly lifted one of the maiden's ponytails and cast it over his face. Now he looked like a red suit of armor with a mysteriously long mustache.

_Her hair… it isn't normal at all, _he thought, intrigued by the maiden's fascinatingly long hair.

It had been a very long time since he met a woman outside of the Shadow Isles. Much to his joy, this particular woman did not have the crappy makeup most nobles powdered themselves with. It was refreshing to see someone _not _put on some sort of weird, transparent mask.

With that said, he was interested in the instrument she held.

_I wonder,_ Mordekaiser thought with a serious look in his eyes, _if this harp is something like that one instrument in Harry Potter that kept those big-as-f#%$ dogs asleep._

The Master of Metal never failed to seize the chance of conjuring up some weird thought.

Mordekaiser looked up. If he were to leave now, he may no longer be able to see the fascinating ponytails ever again. But then again, he needed to look through Jarvan's castle…

…But then again, he freaking hated the castle's structure anyway. Despite being able to control metal, he noticed that many of the metallic parts in the castle were mostly ornaments, therefore making his ability to identify metallic structures somewhat stupid to use. Of course, he could think about looking into people's stuff just to get a basic idea of where certain people live, but there was obviously little point in doing that, considering the fact that he was just staying at the castle to leech off cream puffs from the nation.

…That last particular fact sounded somewhat depressing, but Mordekaiser knew he was right.

The lord of undead sat down next to the Maven of Strings. Placing his elbows on his knees and his hands on the top portion of his helmet, the Master of Metal thought carefully. Cream puffs would obviously sell decently in Demacia, but the probability of Mordekaiser's comrades being able to find cream puffs as well remained unknown to him. If he were to believe in his allies and find that they retrieved nothing, he would have to go into Demacia _again_. A second visit to the noble country sounded dreadful, especially with the fact that his first visit already felt horrendous.

"…Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

The armored Shadow Isles warlord shook his head.

He remained still for a few seconds before he heard a soft melody play next to him. Mordekaiser turned to the blue-haired maiden, who stared at him in wonder.

"…"

"…"

The two stared at each other for a brief moment. Right before Mordekaiser felt like turning away, the blue-haired maiden plucked her instrument, letting out a soft tune flow into his ears. Having become accustomed to overdoses of heavy metal, the soft tune felt foreign and strange to him.

The lord of undead twitched erratically like a dying chicken before looking down at maiden's instrument.

"…What is that?" The red-armored Master of Metal asked. His voice visibly startled the confused maiden, but he decided not to say anything about it. The blue-haired woman plucked at her strings more.

"…Is that… some sort of harp, or is it a weirdly shaped guitar…?"

The maiden plucked at her strings.

"Or maybe it's a very strange digeridoo? That thing is making very strange tunes."

The maiden plucked at her strings.

"…Fine, be that way. It's not like I wanted to know what it was."

Mordekaiser sat up and crossed his arms, mumbling out more guesses on what the maiden's instrument was supposed to be. The lady stopped playing her instrument and proceeded to stare at the lord of undead in fascination.

Suddenly, a voice flowed into Mordekaiser's ears.

"_I have not seen many Demacians wear red armor other than Lady Shyvana._"

"Oh, yeah, I'm just awesome like tha- _**HNGGHFHHBWAGH!**_ WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?!"

The Master of Metal turned to the blue-haired maiden. Even though both of them were sitting on the bench, Mordekaiser somehow managed to tower over her.

"…Was that you?" The lord of undead asked, annoyed at how her voice came out of nowhere.

"…_Yes…_"

"…"

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

"…I didn't know Demacians used telepathy."

The blue-haired lady nodded timidly, her head slightly bowing instinctively under the armored warlord's magnificent height. Though she did not lift her head, her eyes wandered up to the Master of Metal's helmet as she spoke telepathically,

"_Do you know who I am…?_"

"…No."

The lord of undead blinked as the maiden squirmed in place, looking around to see if anyone was around. She then turned back to Mordekaiser with a timid look once more.

"…_I am Sona Buvelle. I play the etwahl and heal those who are hurt in battle._"

…_So she's a nurse with epic hair,_ Mordekaiser concluded abruptly.

"So that thing you have there," the Shadow Isles warlord pointed out with a piqued curiosity, "is an Ed Wall?"

"_Yes._"

"Can I have it?"

"…_P-Pardon me?_"

Mordekaiser sighed. Apparently, the standards of humor at Demacia were set at some place yonder the Shadow Isles' level of comprehension.

"…It's a joke."

Sona nodded warily. The lord of undead prevented himself from chuckling when he noticed Sona clutching her Ed Wall thing closer to herself.

"_Who are you?_" The maiden asked, cautiously turning to the iron man again.

The lord of undead opened his mouth to speak, only to realize that flaunting his real name would cause one heck of a ruckus in Demacia, so- within a few seconds' worth of thinking- Mordekaiser brainstormed a bunch of names through his metallic mindset.

"Maude Caesar," he said as if he were speaking truthfully. "Maude Caesar of the Caesar family. And no, I'm not the monkey from Planet of the Apes. I'm a bodyguard of some guy named My-Shades."

"_Those… are some interesting names._"

"Indeed it is."

The two fell silent once more.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

"I'm bored."

And thus, Mordekaiser stood up, revealing his true height to the frail Maven of Strings. The woman gulped as she saw the huge suit of armor rise. Interestingly enough, the knight in front of her had no weapon.

"You're very funny," Mordekaiser stated out-of-the-blue as he rolled his neck, pumping a fist as energy flowed out of his words. "You also have a very interesting instrument, even if it's not my style. I like music- yes, yes… I like my weapons how I like my music. Heavy and metal."

Sona blinked before she nodded again.

The lord of undead nodded at her just for the sake of nodding.

"…I'm going to go bother my client," Mordekaiser grumbled. Before Sona questioned as to who the client was, Mordekaiser suddenly stormed back into the hallways, mumbling something about a Benz.

The Maven of Strings believed she met a peculiar person.

...

_I wonder if he will show up again..._

_He's quite... a peculiar one._

...

Sona watched the man clad in red armor promptly vanish as soon as he got "bored."

…

…

…

* * *

…

…

…

"Where were you?"

"A hallway quieter than Walt Disney's dead body."

An hour later, Mordekaiser returned to Mercedes' dormitory. The Demacian official had himself humorously wrapped up in bandages like some sort of sad mummy. Apparently, he was able to withstand falling into unconsciousness while paying the suitable price of pain in remaining awake. Mercedes sat his couch playing games.

"Did you meet anyone?" Mercedes asked, and Mordekaiser simply shook his head. "Good. Then let's traverse more of the castle tomorrow."

"…You sound as if you don't know how the castle is structured."

"I actually only know jack-crap about this castle, so you're not wrong at all."

"F$#%."

Mordekaiser was forced to do nothing productive in Mercedes' dormitory for another twelve hours.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Part 2 of 3 in the 3-chapter update.**

**Also, I have a mini treat! I will be providing 5 fun facts based on Steel Revolution.**

**Fun Fact 1 - I actually listen to music while writing up Steel Revolution chapters. For example, whenever I'm creating some sort of freak-show out of Thresh and Mordekaiser trying to use yordles as rock guitars, I play generally hype-y music. On the other hand, when I'm focusing on a certain character during a(n) intermission/chapter, I turn on songs that seemingly fit my general image of said character.**

**In Morde's case, I listen to _Rebellion_ from Blazblue (I used to listen to _6v4_ during the old Steel Revolution days for Morde). In Sona's case, I listen to calm music such as an instrumental Nella Fantasia (I'm kind of just staring at the DJ Sona songs because they seem to have potential in what I have in mind for future chapters). Thresh is a peculiar case because back at the old Steel Revolution, I actually used to turn on three Youtube Poop videos at once alongside a regular heavy metal instrumental for auditory motivation. For the new Steel Revolution, I stopped doing that and started listening to a looping playlist containing Bloody Stream from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Deadpool's theme from Marvel VS Capcom 3, and Thin RED Line from (again) Blazblue.**

**(Just a note: I don't know that much about Blazblue. I just enjoy the music in it.)**

**Fun Fact 2 - Thresh was supposed to be a serious character in both the old and new Steel Revolution. The primary reason as to why I ended up with this Thresh lies solely in the fact that he's basically a hilarious composition of various Thresh players (including me when I used to go AP Thresh), and I realized that it gave me an excuse to weird up a serious character. Mordekaiser, on the other hand, is more of a blend between what people make him out to be, what he is presumed to be by Riot, and what he basically feels like in the actual game. Many more characters share Morde's particular personality trait, but I will admit that some characters are similarly molded in the same fashion as Thresh was.**

**Fun Fact 3 - This is more like a two-in-one fun fact.**

**Elise was originally planned to be completely arrogant, annoying, and evil almost as much as Thresh was in the old Steel Revolution. This particular trait was removed when I looked deeper into her lore and realized that she actually holds a dual personality: a nice persona to those she used to victimize upon, and a bloodthirsty and scary persona when the former persona is somehow forcibly removed. I also gave her the particular quirk of having some sort of freaky connection with Thresh (an abusive one) because I thought it was funnier than nerfing Irelia.**

**Elise was also supposed to be an antagonist of Steel Revolution. This went through a 180-degree change when I made her a supporting character and put Apophis in her stead. At that point, I avoided making champions major antagonists. In the new Steel Revolution, she retains her supporting character role while retaining everything she had at the old Steel Revolution... including her admiration for Mordekaiser, her connection with Thresh, and her loyalty to Vilemaw. I now have more plans for her that will definitely make her seem more important than she seemed to be at the old Steel Revolution.**

**Fun Fact 4 - The very first draft and story layout for Steel Revolution started out as a dark story featuring Mordekaiser as a frightening antagonist. This changed when I suddenly felt like making fun of "edginess" and ended up making a mess out of Morde's character... with surprisingly well-received feedback. What was supposed to be a 20-chapter long story turned into something immensely different. You can still read the introduction to this first draft at my profile. (it's called "Artificial Dominion")**

**Fun Fact 5 - Mordekaiser was originally supposed to meet Jinx before he met ANYONE ELSE in the old Steel Revolution (except for the unfortunate summoner who got sent to his basement). This first got delayed when I made Morde meet Mercedes and Sona, and then it got scrapped when I made him meet Vi. Jinx was then supposed to appear a bit after the (unseen) cooking battle arc ended, where Morde finally gains a partner in celebrating the holidays of Brazil. It never came to see the light, however.**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**...**

**...Needless to say, Jinx is still in my radar.**

**Bonus Fun Fact - Everyone still loves Kha'Zix. You'll see why much later.**

**So before I lose the urge to type, let me ask you a question!**

**Who was your favorite character in the previous Steel Revolution, and why? Is there anything special you're expecting of that character in this particular reboot?**

**I'm looking forward to some answers! I'm curious. :D**

**-NK-**


	7. Trouble In Terrorist Town

_"All the salt in the world." - Reddit_

* * *

The sound of blood, chains, and screams reverberated nearby a warehouse within Noxus. Battle, death, greed-

Fire around the relocated warehouses of Priggs' Industries reached for the grey heavens of Noxus.

A slew of men fired at Thresh as they attempted to blast him apart with Zaunite crystal rifles. They fired and fired, their ammunition depleting slowly as the Chain Warden simply ignored the damage and pressed towards them. Green fire soared out of his body as he laughed- laughed at their pitiful attempts to kill him. The closer he brought himself towards them, the more they backed off. And the more they backed off, the less room they had to do so…

Twenty filthy foes. One considerably fiery warden.

And _**no prisoners to take.**_

Thresh swung his scythe into the skies, the pale heavens contrasting to his sickly green weapon as it flew down and chucked itself into the brains of an armed Zaunite. As soon as the man died, Thresh tore the weapon out of the man's head and decapitated a particularly annoying sniper about half a mile away from him. The chains that connected him to his scythe extended to amazing lengths. With a devilish smile, the Shadow Isles warden walked towards a group of five armed with shotguns.

The sounds of energy attempting to shatter Thresh echoed, but not a single one of the sounds produced belong to the Chain Warden himself. His laugh echoed. He laughed, and laughed and laughed and laughed as he walked faster and faster and _faster and faster __**and faster-**_

-before he dashed towards the group of five and swung his scythe horizontally. About four waists were severed, the last one barely dodging the attack. Dropping the scythe connected to the chains wrapped around him, Thresh grabbed the face of the fifth shotgun wielder as he lifted the mortal up. A green light enveloped the man's head as his skin slowly decayed, his eyes shriveling up as the crystalline water that coated them was absorbed by the warrior of the Shadow Isles. And soon, all that was left of the man were teeth, and a bit of skin 'n bones.

To say it brightly, it felt finger-lickin' good.

The panic that then filled the hearts of corrupted men brought pleasure to Thresh. He felt some sort of euphoria filling his sadistic side of battle with glee. As soon as the armed men began running, Thresh grinned as his feet carried him over to the rest of his foes. The trucks that the Zaun men jumped into would be turned into deathbeds soon enough. Twirling his scythe around excitedly, Thresh twirled and twirled and twirled the scythe before spinning violently, his scythe quickly extending as he spun. As it extended towards the trucks, the sounds of bones crunching filled his insatiable thirst for souls.

Wow. Since he just got three men… Only thirteen to go!

"_**Let's count with Thresh, kids,"**_ the Chain Warden announced as he felt the hearts of men pounding faster as they quickly drove away from him. Extending the chains one last time, the scythe slashed through another one of the trucks like butter, unquestionably slicing those within it in half as the vehicle blew up. Only one more truck left.

How should he gank it…?

_Ah, yes. Why didn't I think of that before?_

Twirling his scythe as he put the lantern he always carried by his belt, the Chain Warden picked up a Hextech Gunblade that fell on the ground before aiming at the truck. He aimed… and fired, painting the driver's window red as the truck began to move uncontrollably. The sign of red signifying his success, Thresh chuckled as he ran up to the vehicle. By the time the passengers within the truck got the machine to move again, the Chain Warden slashed the back part of the vehicle open as he jumped in.

Eight eyeballs peering at him in fear. Three weapons pointed at him. Four souls to collect.

One thirst to quench.

"_**I'm a bit salty,"**_ the warden muttered as he took out his lantern. _**"I'm usually the one who drives."**_

The screams of eternal pain echoed from Zaun one last time. But those screams would not end; the pain-filled voices of corrupted men would serve well within none other than the lantern of the Chain Warden.

* * *

The Shadow Isles champions had all been separated forcefully.

During the battle against the water dragon, Mordekaiser had been slammed off the ship he and his comrades used to sail towards Demacia. In a desperate attempt to make the teleportation spell work on one of the Shadow Isles' greatest warriors, Thresh shoved Karthus towards the edge of the deck right before the spell was cast. And while the spell worked… Not only did Karthus and the rest of the Shadow Isles warriors get sent to some place other than Demacia, but Thresh somehow ended up landing in a Zaunite warehouse within Noxus.

The warehouse belonged to some sort of company known as Priggs' Industries. He heard of them before. Though they were once powerful with a fairly clean reputation, at one point during their grand march to besting Piltover's industry, they were caught keeping humans within warehouses. To put it simply, they enacted some sort of slave trade. With their reputation ruined, Priggs' Industries apologized to all of Valoran- the Zaun government included- and claimed they would start anew. From what Thresh could tell, the company never did well afterwards.

Money made people do very strange things. Thresh found this to be intriguing; why did humans practically worship objects they could neither eat nor love? Even in the perspective of one who hates "lovey-dovey-dope-sh#%," the Chain Warden found it rather ironic that the people who accused of the Shadow Isles to be inhumane war against each other for economic success. In a sense, people seemed to enjoy playing the "I'm rich, you're not" game far too frequently.

So… Thresh happened to land in a suspicious Zaun warehouse within Noxus. What did he do?

Why, he killed all the workers, of course!

Initially, he thought about sparing the fools by running away, but when they started shooting guns at him, he felt the urge to go Counter Strike all over them. Since he did not pick up a gun until the end of the battle, he simply used his scythe to deal with them. From what he could tell, if armed men suddenly began shooting at people without a single warning, then whatever they were protecting would definitely be a bit suspicious.

Plucking himself out of a debris of truck parts and body parts, Thresh headed for the fishy Priggs' Industries warehouse. He hummed a cringe-worthy tune as he bobbed his head up and down on his way to the building.

"I hope it's a huge stash of Tetris blocks," Thresh said out loud. "Then I could make MLG jokes about a puzzle game."

* * *

…

…

…

A pink-haired package of fury soared through the streets of Piltover.

The City of Progress always dealt with crimes almost at a daily basis. Many seemed to find some sort of stupid charm in being a criminal, and that meant the police in the city-state would always be highly alert. Full-blown terrorisms obviously required more than just bog-standard police officers.

That's where Caitlyn and her crew came in.

Vi crashed into a bank with her large gauntlets. With a wide grin, she crushed a pistol a terrorist had pressed against a citizen's head with just two fingers.

"We don't allow that here," she said before punching the man's face in.

Vi's job certainly invigorated her most of the time. Every time something dire came by in the city, she would be sent to deal with the problem fist-first. Caitlyn had no problems with the Piltover Enforcer causing damage to buildings as long as Vi did her job and saved people. Some salty citizens who envied her strength tended to badmouth her publicly, but they obviously did not know that Vi enjoyed applying salt on her meals.

"Hands up!" Vi shouted at the remaining four terrorists, who turned to each other before shooting at her direction. "Eh. On a second thought, I'll just smash all of your hands."

Vi clenched one of her gauntlets before propelling herself forward, smashing one of the terrorists against a wall. Judging by the weapon's design and functionality, these terrorists hailed from Zaun… because not many countries other than Zaun actually used guns. She grit her teeth as she quickly turned and used her huge gauntlets to defend herself from incoming bullets headed straight for her skull.

The sound of guns clicking made the pink-haired brawler pounce on one of the terrorists, delivering a hook that made the masked man drop his weapon and sprawl on the ground. Running up to another one of the terrorists, Vi clenched one of her gauntlets again as she began skidding towards the unfortunate criminal. As soon as she reached the man, she delivered a powerful uppercut that sent him straight out of the building through a concrete wall.

A grin on her face, the Piltover Enforcer turned to the last terrorist. The citizens had escaped, and running away would only get the terrorist receive a dozen of broken bones. He apparently still had some hope in escaping, however, as he put away his gunblade and took out a Warhammer.

"…Wow," Vi muttered as she blinked, staring at the weapon in awe. "I haven't seen those in a long time."

The terrorist ran forward and attempted to smash Vi's head inside-out, but his heavy weapon ultimately made him predictable. Vi ducked as the Warhammer swung horizontally, and she ducked to her right when her opponent swung once more. The terrorist then lifted his weapon before swinging vertically, only to have Vi twirl around to her left, her left gauntlet clenched.

"Dodge this!" Vi sneered as her gauntlet connected cleanly with the terrorist's chin.

As the Warhammer helplessly fell on the ground, the terrorist tumbled until he crashed into a wall. He struggled for a few seconds before fainting.

Vi sighed as she took out a radio. "I've apprehended the targets. I'll be returning to-"

The Enforcer noticed that some sort of… dude was slowly picking up bags of money on the ground. The figure had red clothes and looked really, really thin. It also had a funny-looking hat.

"…Uhhh. Hold on, actually."

Putting away the radio, Vi walked up to the thin, red figure that continued to pick up money bags.

"Hey," she said, but the figure did not listen. "Hey!"

The figure looked up. His skin was decaying. Oh, goodie! Some sort of zombie ended up in a bank. The… zombie thing stared at her with glowing eyes. Now that she observed him a bit more, it looked like something taken straight out of World of Warcraft.

"What do you want, mortal?" The creature said as it stopped picking up money bags.

"That belongs to the city-state," Vi stated. "Put them down, and maybe I'll give you a second chance to leave without a dent in your face."

Now, the lich, Karthus, obviously did not understand why he was in Piltover. What he did understand, however, was that he needed money in order to get a ship to Demacia. Karthus did not have an entire year to get enough money to go to Demacia, so he decided to go rob a bank. Funnily enough, some terrorists arrived before he did.

So he followed the one tradition of Shadow Isles that never really worked in Piltover. He dropped his money bags, threw his arms up in the air, and started charging a ball of energy as he screamed,

"_**F#%$ THE POLICE!-**_"

Karthus experienced a Falcon Punch to the face. If he had his staff, which he dropped in the middle of the ocean, then he could have dealt with this pink-haired fool instantly.

But he didn't.

_I hate my life, _Karthus thought depressingly as his consciousness faded.

_At least I love my unlife._

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**This particular chapter did not focus at all on Mordekaiser. We'll be seeing him in the next one, though.**

**Next chapter: "Creepy Pasta"**


	8. Creepy Pasta

_"And I saw pretzels transforming into rings of fire in the middle of a desert. Sounds like usual business." -A Shuriman Guy_

* * *

The Deathsinger sat within a small, dull room, his eyes staring at an apple placed in front of him.

"You're not gonna eat that?" Caitlyn asked, sitting across him with her arms crossed. "Vi brought it for you."

"…You mean that girl standing next to you?"

The sheriff nodded.

Caitlyn, the Sheriff of Piltover, encountered many kinds of peculiar terrorisms and crimes, but never did she think that she would confront a lich with her own eyes. Before she met Karthus, she initially thought that liches could generally do anything to escape the clutches of mortal hands. Old tales claimed that they hid in darkest of places- anywhere the sun does not shine at. They were depicted as undead masterminds, capable of utilizing powerful dark magic that technology could barely handle.

So when she heard from the Piltover Enforcer that this lich was found collecting money bags with his two skinny hands, she could not help but remain silent with her eyes twitching erratically.

Vi put her gauntlets by her hips as she smirked. "Don't 'death-savvy' peeps like you enjoy apples?"

"The f_**#$%**_?" Karthus retorted. "What is this, Death Note? I hate apples."

At this, the Enforcer pouted and slowly plucked the apple off of the table between Caitlyn and Karthus.

"…"

"…"

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

Suddenly, Caitlyn scooted away from Karthus. Raising an eyebrow, Vi glanced at the sheriff and then at the Deathsinger.

Caitlyn ordered Karthus with an unamused expression,

"Stop kicking at my legs."

"Hey, I don't wanna miss out an opportunity here!" The lich cried.

"Remember that you were arrested three hours ago, 'Karthus.'"

"Without my consent."

Caitlyn raised an eyebrow. "Why would I want your consent to arrest you? You were the one who screamed something incoherent about the police."

"But no one likes the police- _**OW!**_"

Vi bonked the Deathsinger's head with one of her gauntlets. Glaring at the lich, she grumbled something inaudible as she went back to standing by one of the dull room's corners.

Karthus sighed. Thankfully, his hat did not fall off. His spooky, scary skeleton friends at the Shadow Isles claimed that his hair looked so ugly, he needed to dip it in cement to give it a legit appearance.

"So anyway…"

The Deathsinger leaned away from Caitlyn as he asked, "I'm sure that this… pretty room isn't my cell, but an interrogation room, correct?"

Caitlyn and Vi nodded simultaneously.

Karthus remained still for a bit before chuckling, his voice echoing slightly as he made himself more comfortable with his seat.

"Your kind," Caitlyn began, "rarely leave the Isles, if I am not mistaken. In fact, this is the first time someone from the Shadow Isles entered Piltover.

"Had you been targeting our people, we would have shipped you to Demacia and have you dealt with by the Purifiers, but you have some reason. Therefore, I am hoping that you would- at the very least- comply with our questions."

A brief moment of silence entered the air. With a bit of confidence behind his tone, Karthus responded,

"I'm not here for the City of Progress."

"Then you are…?-"

"I'm here for Demacia."

At this, Caitlyn put up a thoughtful look. "So you came to Piltover in order to go to Demacia? That's quite strange. Why would you go to Demacia in the first place?"

"A freak accident got my boat," the Deathsinger answered with a surprising amount of honesty. "And my business with Demacia is none of your business."

"Hm. I can take you to Demacia. It's just that there would be no return from where I send you."

"You can only do so much to the dead, young lady."

The two fell silent, peering into each other's eyes. Karthus did not exactly expect the sheriff to act confidently in front of someone from the Shadow Isles, though Caitlyn herself was caught off guard by how little intimidation worked on the Deathsinger himself.

Vi scratched the back of her head as the two talked.

_Is it me,_ the Enforcer thought, _or am I craving for a donut in a freaking important time like this?_

"Let me put my question simply," Caitlyn stated, her tone noticeably stronger. "Why are you in Valoran?"

"He he. You don't have a clue, yet you pretend to know it all."

"_Why are you in Valoran?_"

"Do I look like Siri? _Be-beep!_ **Why am I in Valoran?**"

"_**Don't dodge the question!**_"

Karthus laughed, his voice reverberating throughout the entire room. Vi flinched as she looked around to make sure some spooky skeleton did not go inside her without letting her know it.

"To take back what is ours."

"…? What?-"

"Like I said," Karthus clarified, "you know nothing as to why I am here. Why _we_ are here. Why we could possibly want something from the very continent that drove us into a mere speck of land."

"…"

The Deathsinger continued, "We are not here for you, but something you fools have taken from us. We're bringing it back before you all die. Do you not see the irony in this? How we try to take something, but you mistake it for invasion. And how you mortals kill one another and accuse us for any form of insanity. You are no different from the others. If I stay, you will die. If I leave, you might die anyway. Your time ticks faster if you lock me in, and it will end the moment you send me to a deathbed.

"You have no idea how much I want to see you clueless idiots scattered apart like a broken paper machete."

"Lock him up," Caitlyn commanded Vi as she bolted up from her chair. "Put him under quarantine. This… thing… doesn't know what he's talking about. The typical nonsense of a madman. We'll send him to Demacia later."

The sheriff's footsteps became quieter and quieter as she left the interrogation room. And Karthus, who actually could have done something to get himself out, remained still. Because soon, his comrades would meet him once more, and they would leave Valoran to rendezvous with the Ruined King for more orders. He did not need to take any lives and cause a pointless ruckus. He could take them later if he really needed to, after all…

"You there," the Deathsinger said to Vi, who turned to him with a confused look. "I will be appreciating your presence for the time being."

"…Well, it's not like you'll be leaving any sooner in a high-quarantine cell, right?"

A dozen of laughs erupted from Karthus, startling the Piltover Enforcer. He really did look like a freakshow.

"Ah… Mark my words, oblivious child," the Deathsinger whispered. "Mordekaiser will free me of this nonsense."

"…Mordekaiser?"

"He is a man I know little about. He has far less patience than me, and he could be plotting anything at this very moment. You have no idea what you just got yourselves into. He could be waiting to strike at any moment, destroy at any second, put oblivion to the very existence of one's life at any day. And you will never see it coming.

"_**He is plotting his next move at **__**this very moment**__**.**_"

* * *

…

…

…

"Dammit, Mercedes, stop taking the shotgun."

Mordekaiser and Mercedes mashed their buttons as they blasted their way through a Contra level. Mercedes wanted to go old school, and since the Master of Metal had no problems with that, they just went with a simple platform shooter.

"Hey Mercedes, I'm getting hungry."

"…Undead people could get hungry?" The Demacian asked.

"No, you dumbf_**#$%**_. It's a saying. A saying that implies my desire to eat food."

"So you're hungry."

"Mercedes, you little sh- Wait, how does spaghetti sound for tonight?"

The Demacian official put up a thoughtful look before focusing on his game again. "Sounds good to me."

"Awesome. Let's go get some spaghetti soon."

Life had become surprisingly calm on Mordekaiser's part. Mercedes originally expected his death to come as soon as he met the lord of undead, but he found himself sitting next to the iron suit of armor playing video games instead. The Master of Metal had never went outside of the palace so far.

No one other than himself knew of Mordekaiser's existence within the palace. Some have met him, but they still did not know what the Master of Metal exactly was.

"Mordekaiser," Mercedes said as he shot down the final boss alongside the iron man, "we're going out shopping tonight."

"'K."

"Got your red armor?"

"It's already on me, you incompetent doofus."

* * *

Mordekaiser felt agony as he moved across the blue-and-yellow buildings within a Demacian city.

Demacia had class. None of the buildings near the palace looked dirty. But when it came to the color design of the city, Mordekaiser could only shield his eyes in agony. Why did everything have to look so colorful? Once in a while, a building lacking blue-and-yellow would pop up, and Mordekaiser would relieve his delicate eyes. Thankfully, his eyes lacked a red glow, having a blue glow to them instead.

Because a knight walking around with red slits for eyes sounded totally natural.

"Mercedes," the Master of Metal whispered as he passed by several nobles unknowing of his awesome presence, "kill me."

"_**I wish.**_"

"Did you say something?"

"Nope. Oh, hey, it's a street performance."

The lord of undead turned to his left, only to find some sort of guy manipulating his own arms to keep a slippery-looking ball in a single place. The man bent and wiggled his arms, making the ball seem like it was just floating in the air as he used his body to hold it cleverly.

"…That ball is juking him hard."

"Mordekaiser, he's controlling the ball; he's not showing himself getting wrecked for a street performance."

Interested, the lord of undead turned to the street performer, who neared the end of his performance. Some people clapped as they tossed some coins into the violin case next to the performer.

_Ha! _Mordekaiser thought smugly as he suddenly grinned. _So they think they have a lot of money, huh? It's kind of a d-ck move on my part, but I'll show them how __**rich**__ the Shadow Isles could get if they really tried!_

_Behold! __**THE MONEY PRINTER TECHNIQUE!**_

Mordekaiser lifted his hand and, slowly, began memorizing the shape of gold coins flying into the violin case. He rarely used this solely because the Shadow Isles never used legitimate money, but outside of the Isles, he could become the richest man in the world in an instant. Sort of. Okay, maybe even he had his own limits, but making money was easy peasy.

He liked to call this technique the "Gibe Moni Printer Technique." Don't question his creativeness.

As soon as some people noticed the armored warlord raising his hand, a pile of gold appeared out of nowhere and floated around his hand. The street performer let his jaw slam against the ground as the floating gold coins floated towards him.

Three thousand gold coins for rolling around a ball_. Surely, the man who manipulated gold was probably the richest man in the world! _The street performer thought as he watched the money soon fall soullessly into his violin case.

The nobles who witnessed the scene blinked, staring at Mordekaiser, then at the violin case. They stood still as their jaws slowly opened.

Mordekaiser chuckled as the hand that copied gold coins balled itself into a fist. "A pleasant performance, you peasant," the Shadow Isles warlord proclaimed as he continued to walk down the streets.

* * *

After waking up from his own shock, Mercedes caught up to Mordekaiser and led the way again.

"So you can copy money?" The Demacian officer asked.

"If I want to," the lord of undead grumbled. "I have my own limits, though, so I might have to visit a gold mine or something."

"…"

"…You're thinking about that Wii U. Isn't that right, **Mercedes**?"

"Zip it."

Entering a particularly busy mart, Mordekaiser soon found himself surrounded by both nobles and peasants alike. Unlike the Shadow Isles, which used a bog-standard Walmart-styled system where one would call dibs on everything good before leaving everyone all salty, the Demacian mart actually seemed to use a system where PEOPLE sold things.

Not machines, but PEOPLE. So many PEOPLE. _**Rollercoaster Tycoon 2**_ levels of **PEOPLE**.

_Eww._

"…Mordekaiser, stop making that constipated face."

"I can't help it, Mercedes. Not until these embodiments of decorated trash vanish from my sight."

The Demacian official turned to the Master of Metal with a raised eyebrow. "So our Morde can't deal with large crowds of people, I see."

"I make up for it with _**wave clearing.**_ In fact, let me show you just what I'm-"

As the two walked forward with a lighthearted trashtalk going on, Mercedes bumped into someone without even noticing them. The officer blinked as he turned to the person he bumped into, only to realize that he just met one of his comrades.

"Xin?"

The Seneschal of Demacia blinked before his eyes widened, a small smile forming on his rigid face. The lord of undead swore he saw this guy somewhere before…

"Mercedes," the Demacian spearman spoke with a mix of pleasant surprise and curiosity. "What kind of business could possibly bring you all the way down here?"

"Bah," Mercedes instantly answered without any hesitation, "I decided to try a bit of a 'hands-on' approach to these kinds of things. It'd be problematic if I was known as a shut-in among all of the Demacians, right?"

"People don't really think of you as a shut-in, good Mercedes! In fact, I heard that you went on a fishing trip with Prince Jarvan with just the two of you. Jarvan doesn't like shut-ins, you know."

"Your compliments are making me like myself too much," the auburn-haired official chuckled. As Xin laughed in response, the Seneschal's eyes fell upon Mordekaiser.

He raised a hand to the Master of Metal's direction as he asked, "Who might that be? Would he be your right-hand man?"

Mercedes turned to the lord of undead, then at the spearman. Mordekaiser noticed that Mercedes was a natural-born liar when he really needed to be… and whether that was a good trait for a Demacian to have, he did not know.

But it was good for Mordekaiser, so the lord of undead did not kill the Demacian for it.

"He is a bodyguard I personally assigned," Mercedes explained with a small smile. "He may look like a soulless knight who only follows orders, but he is a pretty good friend of mine."

Xin turned to Mordekaiser, who decided to flow with Mercedes' acting as he confidently spoke,

"I go by _Kaiser_."

Xin blanked out and stared at the huge man with armor. Now that he thought about it, he remembered seeing this… hulking suit of armor before. In fact, he remembered the armor very clearly.

"You're… Maude, aren't you?"

"…? What?"

The lord of undead tilted his head in confusion as Xin explained, "I heard from Lady Sona about you. While I was walking her out of her recent etwahl performance, she saw a glimpse of you in Prince Jarvan's castle and told me who you were."

"Oh."

If that was the case, then Mordekaiser did not have to worry about getting caught-

"I thought your name was Maude Caesar, though?"

"That's such an idiotic name, though."

"True."

"…What do you mean _**'true'**_?"

Before the Master of Metal felt tempted enough to kill Xin Zhao, the Seneschal of Demacia, Mercedes decided to butt in with a sh-t-eating grin. "_**WELL THEN!**_ Kaiser, let's go buy some spaghetti ingredients, shall we?"

"Ah! I bid you farewell, Mercedes," Xin exclaimed as he began walking out of the mart. "I hope to have a conversation at the castle."

"Yeah. And practice some Chess, will you?"

Xin glanced at the Demacian official with a friendly grin one last time before hurrying out of the place.

"…That f-cker said my fake name is retarded."

"It _is_ kind of stupid, though. I wouldn't want to call you 'Maude, Maude, Maude' all the time; it sounds like _**Mom**_, and we know who the real big mama is. _Kaiser,_ on the other hand, rolls off the tongue better."

"Who's the big mama?"

"Shyvana."

Mordekaiser decided to keep note of that.

Mercedes stared at the pondering Master of Metal before speaking up.

"You're not going to pull a Walking Dead on me and start calling Shyvana _Big Mama_, right?"

"How did you know?"

"Dammit, Mordekaiser. I already have too many problems in my hands. Just leave her to Jarvan's care."

The two eventually stood in front of a "noodle" section within the mart. There were tons of noodles, but unfortunately for Mordekaiser, he would probably be unable to deal tons of damage on everything that looked fancy. He used to enjoy sweeping the marketplace at Shadow Isles with his trusty mace before starting a real-life Counter-Strike match.

…_My mace,_ the lord of undead realized. _I need to paint my mace. I'll just make Mercedes do that for me later._

Mercedes mercilessly snatched several big noodle packs, whistling a funny little tune.

_**CRASH!**_

"Mother of God; Mordekaiser, go check out what just happened."

The lord of undead crossed his arms and shook his head. "No," he answered firmly. "Why should I go do errands for the likes of you?"

"I'll buy you a game."

The Master of Metal immediately summoned his mace and walked to the direction of the noise.

Before him was a conglomeration of nobles and peasants. There were some really fancy-looking people such as the brown-haired man donning blue-and-golden armor. There was a red-armored, blue-skinned woman standing closely to the man.

_Must be one hell of a noble,_ the lord of undead thought simply as he turned to analyze the rest of the people standing in front of a bunch of fresh fishes. He found it annoying to find that the stench of humans would contaminate the dead creatures; he personally found it more annoying to smell people than death.

Then there was the guy holding a peasant woman with a knife by her neck.

_Yes! Wait,_ the lord of undead thought to himself. _But this isn't the Shadow Isles. Maybe that's why people are trembling in concern._

"Control yourself, citizen," the brown-haired man said, his hands away from the large sword strapped on his back. "I do not wish to bring out my men."

"Citizen?!" The man with the knife screamed as he held the woman closer to him. "I despise Demacia more than anything! Long live Noxus! Noxus has always been my dream!"

_Then get the f__**#$**__k out of here, _Mordekaiser thought in the most cynical way possible.

"Long live Noxus! Demacia will not stand any longer than the Ionian fools! Long live Noxus! Hail Noxus!"

Mordekaiser sighed as he turned away, unsummoning his mace as he ignored the loud Noxian who somehow sneaked into Demacia. If there were two soldiers next to this nutcase, then things would go their way, right?

"The techmaturgy and hextech Piltover and Zaun hold are no match for Noxus' unending glory!"

Just another walk in the park.

"We are more fearsome than the Shadow Isles!"

We are more fearsome than the Shadow Isles!

More fearsome than the Shadow Isles.

_**More.**_

**Than.**

**The.**

_**Shadow Isles.**_

The lord of undead froze. Not too far off from the ruckus, Mercedes became dead silent and dropped the bags of doritos in his arms out of sheer fear.

Summoning his mace once more, the Master of Metal turned abruptly, his eyes letting out a burst of red as it left behind a trail of deathly crimson. The massive armored Shadow Isles warlord's feet sped across the ground at such a high speed, he reached the Noxian in a second. The man with the knife felt his eyes widen as he witnessed a warrior- out of nowhere- reaching out for his face. Before he could react, the Noxian had his face clutched onto by the iron grip of the Master of Metal, the warlord's speed causing him to drop the knife out of pain.

Skidding across the ground, the lord of undead threw the man up in the air, sending him vertically spinning like a hot wheel. Clutching the mace with both of his hands, Mordekaiser raised his weapon like a baseball bat as red sparks of energy formed around the mainframe.

With the ferocity of a berserker, the Master of Metal smashed his mace against the Noxian's back, sending straight out of the mart. The Noxian crashed through dozens of food shelves before zipping out of the entrance, landing in a bin full of trash.

Smoke emitted out of where the Noxian landed. Everyone remained silent. Mordekaiser did not move.

Mercedes was missing from the mart.

The lord of undead stared off at where his victim landed. The smoke revealed the Noxian to be remaining still, twitching every so often. Meanwhile, the person he saved looked up at him in both fear and admiration before crawling away from him.

The question that entered everyone's head was:

_Who is he?_

The brown-haired knight gulped as he straightened himself.

"…I suppose that though violence was not needed to end this, you still did good for our people," he said. "But I do not recognize you among our ranks."

The red-armored woman nervously glanced at her comrade before turning to the red-armored Master of Metal.

Then, the lord of undead unsummoned his mace and straightened himself. He slowly turned to the man who implicitly asked for his identity.

His eyes slowly returned to its blue, calm glow.

"I am the bodyguard of Mercedes. We played Super Smash Brothers ever since I was born. You may call me…"

**Mordekaiser.**

"…Kaiser."

Silence flooded the mart, the tension growing upon Mordekaiser's reveal to the public.

Suddenly, Mercedes came in with a copy of Super Mario Bros. as he casually killed the mood.

"I bought you a game."

The Master of Metal abruptly walked up to Mercedes, snatching the video game from the Demacian official before analyzing it.

"…Good job," the lord of undead said. "Let's go make some spaghetti-"

"Hold it."

Mercedes swore silently as the Master of Metal turned to the blue-skinned woman. She glared at him with clearly suspicious eyes.

"I would like to personally request of your presence in front of Jarvan IV," she spoke.

The auburn-haired official knew what the red-armored woman wanted to do; she wanted to confirm if the prince recognized Mordekaiser or not. After all, Mercedes was fairly close to Jarvan IV, and that meant the fearsome half-dragon met him nearly every day. Having a "bodyguard" pop out of nowhere did seem like it happened out of the blue in her perspective.

"I agree," the brown-haired knight nodded. "I would at least want an explanation on who you exactly are, as Prince Jarvan the Fourth did not mention personal bodyguards being assigned to the officials."

The lord of undead nodded, though he did the complete opposite in his mind. And as he straightened himself, the Master of Metal realized he was going to be brought before the leader of Demacia in just a few days after his arrival. Whatever the heck he could do about it, he did not know, but if things were going to turn for the worse, then he would face it with all of his might.

But in all of his honesty, he just wanted to play the game Mercedes just purchased.

_I came for cream puffs,_ Mordekaiser thought grumpily as he glared at a nervous Mercedes.

_What the freak am I getting involved with now?_

Alas, blending into Demacia was one thing.

Convincing the prince with a lie seemed like another interesting thing.

Mordekaiser asked out loud,

"Then what are we waiting for?"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Next chapter: "The Prince of Demacia, 'Jarvannnnnn'"**


	9. Prince of Demacia, Jarvannnnn

_"Bruh, I think I'm getting old." -Gilgamesh_

* * *

The Ruined King walked down the hallways of his castle, his armor latched onto him. It had been several days since his personal men had gone off to Valoran. He would have contacted them had it not been for the fact that they might have been busy. If they needed to report information, then they would indefinitely report it.

He knew of his officers for a long time. It was only natural to feel a bit concerned for them.

Entering what appeared to be a small, fancy room full of bookshelves, tables, and a funny little couch, he remained still.

How long had it been since he made indirect contact with Valoran through his officers?

It still felt strange to him. What had he thought of Valoran before he became the Ruined King? He had long forgotten about trivial thoughts, but he could not help but try remembering sometimes. He knew why he was king, but it was only because of an unknown miracle that the dead decided to follow his lead in a world full of life.

He ironically achieved a peaceful utopia faster than any other city-state on Runeterra. And now someone was threatening the work he conducted through a miracle.

The Ruined King walked up to an empty turntable. It was a simple, modern turntable from a darker Runeterra.

Ah. He remembered something about this object.

He had received it long ago from a friend in his mortal days. It was on the day his comrade-in-arms finally received a son to live a peaceful life after countless trials and tribulations. He wanted to remember that friend as an honorable man, since the man he knew of once was. Sentient beings always had the chance to be honorable.

But power could do interesting things to people. Even now, no matter how much he remembered about his friend, he could only remind himself to never indulge himself into too much power. Power made the world round. An oversaturation of power just ends up being an endless void of not greed, but pure insanity.

He learned it the hard way.

Reaching out for an old record cover, he read the label of one of the few discs he had. It was straight out of the Demacian Choir, before the city-state had grown to its image of honor and glory. The entire country had endured harsh times of its own, and, though not as impressively as the Shadow Isles had, it did many things to cover its past full of hardships. This was to- in his perspective- give the new generation of Demacia something brighter to look forward to other than just surviving a bloody war.

Within the disc lay such experiences of the bloody war.

The Ruined King took the disc out of its paper cover and placed it neatly on the turntable. He then hovered the needle over it before letting go of it. As the disc began to spin, the young voices of the Demacian boys soothingly flowed to his sense of hearing.

The song itself was simple. It spoke of five-hundred years of bloodshed and hardships, and how one day, Demacia, as a country, would rise and become a place of safety and comfort; a place where children can play for days, and weeks, and months, even. A place where the military could finally lay their arms by their sides. Behind its simple lyrics lay an interesting history that the Ruined King himself could relate to. He had grown to despise humans of the modern era, but he could not help but relate to the past generation's people, most of whom had moved on rather than joining the Shadow Isles. For one time, both the living and the dead encountered trials similar to each other.

He sat on the weak-looking, but sturdy couch. And as the music continued, he, the king of the dead, fell asleep for a moment.

Just for a moment's worth of separate peace.

* * *

…

…

…

Mordekaiser entered a throne room with an extremely anxious Mercedes by his side.

The throne room was large, that much being pretty obvious to him. But what caught his attention- and horror- was how nearly everything was blue and gold in this gigantic room. Rather than be fascinated over the amount of gold in the room, he held off the urge to choke and die at that very moment.

"Come in," a charismatic voice boomed across the throne room.

Without a single doubt in his actions, the Master of Metal moved forward, Mercedes following suite. The lord of undead did not know why the Demacian official acted like the final boss had already appeared before them, but then again, the prince might have been a pretty big deal to people like the auburn-haired man.

Sitting on the throne was the prince himself, coated with a majestic, gold-colored armor. But Mordekaiser could tell that something about the armor was unique. Rather than the smell of steel puffing out of him, the hidden trace of defeated monsters came from the armor. He quickly realized that the prince had forged his armor out of dragon scales, one of the most durable materials to ever exist in Runeterra.

Standing next to the man was the red-armored, blue-skinned half-dragon and the brown-haired man he met the other day at the mart. There was also that Xin guy he met with Mercedes at the mart. Heck, even an armored woman with some blue jay sitting on her shoulder stood by his side.

Like, a blue jay. On her shoulder. And they had the ridiculous idea of plastering gold armor over it just to make it look more like a Demacian thing.

The lord of undead approached the prince, who remained still at his presence. As he created a decent distance between himself and the prince before him, who sat above several small flights of stairs, Mordekaiser eventually stopped walking.

"I presume you know who I am," the Exemplar of Demacia spoke with authority in his tone.

The lord of undead nodded. Of course he knew who the prince was.

"Tarzan the Fourth."

"…"

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

Mercedes elbowed Mordekaiser. The Master of Metal remembered his mistake. Thanking Mercedes internally, the Shadow Isles warlord added in,

"Son of Tarzan the Third."

"…"

…

…

…

The half-dragon, also known as the big mama of Demacia, glared at the lord of undead, her eyes slowly letting out fiery flames. Mordekaiser was blissfully unaware of her anger, standing with all of his confidence that he got Jarvan IV's name right.

The prince himself simply blinked. Mercedes himself was amazed that the Exemplar was not trying to challenge Mordekaiser into a duel for getting his name wrong yet.

"…You," Shyvana growled in a low tone, "are wrong."

"...?"

"Perhaps it is his accent that makes it hard to say my name," Jarvan quickly pointed out to the Half-Dragon. "I am 'Jar-van' the Fourth."

The lord of undead remained still for a few seconds before his eyes widened. He clapped his hands once to signify the realization of what he did wrong.

He then tried again with the same amount of confidence as before.

"Carmen the Fourth."

"Jarvan the Fourth."

"Garmin the Fourth."

"_Jarvan the Fourth."_

"Karthus the Fourth."

Jarvan sighed. Shyvana became unbelievably enraged. The only reason she did not lash out at Mordekaiser was because of the very noble leader of the Dauntless Vanguard, Garen Crownguard. He barely managed to hold her off from Mercedes' "bodyguard."

"You will listen with all of your respect," Shyvana bellowed at the Master of Metal, who jumped because he did not know what he did wrong. "Do you have no shame in not knowing his name?"

Mordekaiser looked around the throne room and shrugged. He technically did not have any shame because he never really met Jarvan IV before.

The prince raised his hand as he interrupted Shyvana's rant.

"Enough. Such trivial things are not excusable for calling this man. He who defends my comrades is my comrade, after all."

His crystal blue eyes staring at Mordekaiser in both curiosity and confusion, he asked the Master of Metal,

"Who are you? And how did I not meet you until now?"

Mercedes glanced at Mordekaiser. The iron man glanced at the auburn-haired man. For some reason, Mordekaiser felt confident in explaining, so he looked away from the Demacian official, ready to make up some bullcrap reason as to how he became a "bodyguard."

It was going to be legit and believable.

"I was raised in the Ironspike Mountains nearby Piltover and Zaun," he began, instantly causing Mercedes to raise an eyebrow. "My parents were always chased by bandits, and one day, they dropped me in the Kumungu Jungle. There, I discovered a small abandoned house where I played Super Smash Brothers every day, wishing to reach TAS levels of perfection for 20XX. But alone, I was worthless in achieving this dream. I couldn't even beat Dark Souls without getting damaged.

"As I grew up, Ganondorf, my childhood hero, inspired me to fight and survive in the jungle. I fought for years, but one day, Mercedes found me while he was looking for fresh fruits. I do not know why he was looking for fresh fruits in the Kumungu Jungle, but he was. Then he found me, and he brought me to Demacia. After staying there for a while, I soon found myself dedicated to protecting this man's life for bringing me to a less dangerous world, where I can practice twitch reactions all day long without the worry of getting ambushed by a tiger. He enlisted me as a personal bodyguard, which is why I did not have a specific need to meet you, Prince Jarvannnnn."

"…"

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

Mercedes was at a loss for words. So were Shyvana, Garen, and the other two Demacian officers. Only Jarvan himself seemed composed at the extremely convincing story.

"I see."

Shyvana turned to Jarvan in disbelief. "Are you genuinely believing that this man learned how to throw a man sky-high in the air and use a mace to play baseball with his airborne body?"

"I do not understand what he just said at all. Heck, if I did understand, I probably would be in disbelief as well. But I will presume that this man is trying to say that he lived a hard life. Mercedes helped him leave that life, and now he's returning the favor."

"…"

Mordekaiser nodded and pointed an index finger at the ceiling nonchalantly. "Exactly," he said as if Jarvan was the only one who could comprehend his genius.

"I still find this to be… suspicious."

"Shyvana, you need to calm yourself," Jarvan spoke once more.

"But he came out of nowhere! And he is not afraid to hurt citizens and the unarmored alike. We all have been taught to follow a moral code; all of us have. But so far, he displayed none of the things that would fit in the code."

"**Shyvana.**"

The Half-Dragon stopped as Jarvan turned to her, his eyes sharp and demanding. Though she seemed like she wanted to explain her opinion further, she fell silent.

"What is your name?" Jarvan asked the Master of Metal.

"Kaiser."

"Hm. Kaiser. I see."

Prince Jarvan's shoulders visibly loosened as he sighed. "I was honestly expecting the heart of a spy within you, but judging by Mercedes' willingness to have you close by him, I would like to confess that I may be incorrect.

"Though you may not have properly learned the Demacian Code of Values that all soldiers are trained to follow, you still follow the one and most important value; the heart to protect. If what you said is true, then all you need is a small set of lessons that can prepare the mannerisms you need in this castle.

"Also, I would like to speak with you personally later. I am honestly surprised a man like Mercedes would have something to hide, but I am glad that it is something I can take part in to assist you."

Mercedes perked up, having wiped the sweat that drenched his face earlier as he smiled brightly. "Ah! Of course, my lord. It would be truly satisfying to get this off of my shoulders, I will admit."

Jarvan smiled kindly. Mordekaiser had to admit, for a prince who ruled a sh_**#%**_ty country, the man himself was not too bad. He just needed to give his armor a paint job- perhaps _grey_ would do- and he would respect this man.

"As I have business to attend," Jarvan explained, "I will no longer take your time for today.

"The both of you are dismissed."

* * *

…

…

…

An hour later, Mercedes found himself eating some good old pizza with a Shadow Isles warlord at his room.

"…I still can't believe he let you go," the auburn-haired man admitted. "Prince Jarvan is usually… insightful."

"But he wasn't," Mordekaiser bluntly pointed out as he snatched a pizza from the large pizza box on the table before him. "Looks like I get to sap more information out of this stupid country for a bit longer."

"I'm fine with everything, but just don't kill me."

The two continued eating pizza.

"Ey, Mordekaiser."

"What?"

"What did you come here for, anyway?"

The lord of undead thought about it.

Since he could not come up with an answer at the moment, he slapped Mercedes and took his pizza. The auburn-haired man attempted to resist in a futile power struggle over the pizza, but in the end, Mordekaiser was triumphant.

"_**SERIOUSLY, WHEN ARE YOU LEAVING?!"**_

The Master of Metal laughed as he suddenly stood up and flipped the table, causing the dishes and cups placed on it to collide against the ground harshly.

"_**WHEN I WANT TO LEAVE! BWA HA HA HA HUE HA HA!"**_

"_**AND WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO MY TABLE?!"**_

* * *

…

…

…

Jarvan IV actually believed Kaiser a bit.

If he were too suspicious of the armored bodyguard, he would have had him investigated upon thoroughly. But with a trustworthy man like Mercedes claiming that Kaiser had protected him well, he could not help but let the iron man off the hook. From his perspective, all Kaiser needed was a bit of teaching on how to become more proper with his mannerisms.

Now walking around in his personal bedroom, Jarvan dressed out of his armor and got into his comfortable pajamas. Yes, he wore pajamas. He did not forget to make the pajamas as fashionable as possible, of course.

_This is actually a fresh diversion from my work these days,_ he thought brightly as he smiled at the thought of him teaching the hulking metal man. He was suddenly reminded of his younger days, where he went through heaven and hell to teach Shyvana how to fit into society. Sure, he did deserve some of the sudden punishments he received from her, but nevertheless, the memory was a treasured one.

_I got this! _He thought as he slipped into his huge bed, staring at the ceiling. _I taught someone straight out of the wild to fit into society before. Though this guy seems like he'd be a bit more challenging to teach, I'm confident that he'll turn out to be an interesting fellow._

_I'm sure no one would have a problem with this._

Unfortunately, the optimistic Jarvan IV was totally wrong. In fact, every single one of the officers that were present during his meeting with Kaiser contradicted his thoughts…

* * *

**...**

**...**

**...**

**Author's Notes:**

**This chapter was actually supposed to be the previous chapter, but I ended up adding the mart segment to actually give Mordekaiser a more legitimate reason to appear before Jarvan IV other than "being unidentified."**

**Next chapter: "A Frightful Maven"**


	10. Maven Observes Metal!

_"So many drunk guys in a sober world." - A Drunk Guy_

* * *

Sona Buvelle stood in front of Mercedes' room.

It had been a while since she personally went up to his room. He was a man she respected; whenever she found trouble in playing her music, sometimes she would go to him for advice and simple comfort. The kind auburn-haired man would then put his mind into helping her out. Though his words did not always provide an absolute magic touch to her troubled soul, it always ended up calming her down enough for her to regain control over her spirit.

And even before a peaceful present, Mercedes was one of the first people to stand by her side from the beginning. Ever since she was sent to personally assist the king's men through her healing and music, the Demacian official had once stuck close to her. He had very few things to teach her, but his presence had soothed her anxious spirit when she first realized she was no longer a part of the orphanage she had grown accustomed to.

Honestly, he did nothing truly exemplary other than being a helpful figure to lean upon whenever she felt troubled. That alone made her respect him.

The blue-haired maiden held onto a small giftbox as she softly knocked on the door again. A few seconds later, the sound of something breaking signified that he noticed her. The door soon opened.

"…Sona?!" The Demacian official exclaimed in surprise, his eyebrows flinging themselves up as he glanced at the present box before looking back up. "You really shouldn't do that. I'm going to get spoiled at this rate."

Sona smiled softly as she lightly lifted her gift. She spoke through her telepathy, _"This is for the batch of cookies you made for everyone in the castle. I hope it's not disappointing."_

"What's this?"

"_A chicken sandwich."_

"I am severely disappointed."

At this, the Maven of Strings' eyes widened as a worried frown replaced her smile. _"Disappointed…?"_

"Disappointed that you're spoiling me this much. I love chicken! Ha ha ha!"

The smile she lost quickly found its way back to Sona's face.

"_T-That is comforting to hear."_

So she still remembered what he liked. That was good; it felt as if a century had passed since she talked to the respectable man.

"_Um!"_ The Maven of Strings perked up from a brief moment of silence she fell into. _"If it is alright with you, I'd like to help with anything you need help with!"_

"…Huh?"

Mercedes blinked as he took out a blue thermos out of nowhere, drinking from it as he leaned against the doorframe. Sona decided not to think about it too much as she continued, _"I do not have much to do for the next few days; I have been granted a short break from my work. So if there is anything you need help with, then I'd like to pay you back for the many things you-"_

"Ohhhhhhhhhh," Mercedes let out in a carefree manner as he nodded to himself. "Well, I'll be honest- and no offense to you- but I've been getting a feeling that you'd visit me soon because of that reason."

"_W-Why?"_

"Because this situation occurred twenty-three times already."

"…_Oh, right."_

Now that she thought about it, she did feel as if she had grown used to asking Mercedes if he had anything he needed help with.

"_So… Is there anything you need… help with…?"_

The auburn-haired man put up a thoughtful look. Sona hoped she could help him out some way. She recently heard that the auburn-haired man had gotten himself involved with solving some sort of freak incident that occurred between Demacia, Zaun, and Piltover. Though she did not know specific details on this particular incident, it did seem very critical to the dangerous relationship between the cities of techmaturgy and hextechnology.

And it was up to Mercedes to defend both Zaun _and _Piltover from angering a Demacian economy that nearly spiraled out of control thanks to one of the two's mistakes in disciplining the soldiers that represented the countries. He already seemed busy with paperwork, so that already seemed like one hellish workload for him to encounter every day.

"Ah!" Mercedes said as he came up with an idea. "Can you make burritos?"

"…_?"_

The auburn-haired man laughed (nervously, unbeknownst to her) as he adjusted his fancy blue robes, lazily pointing at his feet as he explained,

"You see, my room uses burritos as fuel to keep electricity running."

"…"

…

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Sona knew Mercedes was a very respectable man. She really did. And she knew that even the most respectable of men could sometimes spout out the strangest sentences that made no logical sense whatsoever.

"…Okay, I lied," Mercedes admitted, causing Sona to sigh in relief as her worries about his health subsided. "There's someone who's going to occasionally visit my room every now and then. Just put the burrito in front of the room, knock on the door, and leave. That'll be his signal to get the burrito. He'll be there at every lunchtime."

"_How would he know that I put the food there, then…?"_

"He's psychic. Don't worry."

"_Really?"_

"Yup."

Sona nodded politely.

"_Then… I will keep note of that. I hope things get sorted out on your part, Sir Mercedes…"_

Mercedes smiled.

* * *

Mercedes frowned.

As the Maven of Strings departed, he went back into his room and shut the door behind him and prayed to anything almighty that could help him get a break. He made a deal with the lord of undead to leave food by the door when he left, but how the heck was he supposed to do that when he was departing for Piltover?

At least Sona seemed like she could help, as absurd as his situation sounded.

"Are you going now?" Mordekaiser boomed across his room as he mashed a bunch of buttons. "Because I'm getting hungry."

"Do it yourself today," the Demacian official told the lord of undead as he went over to pick up a huge luggage he did not finish packing up earlier. "I'll be out for a week."

"Eugh. _**Work.**_ How conniving of those tech-savvy annoyances to make my slave go out for work."

"…"

As the Demacian official packed his stuff up, he took one last look at the Master of Metal.

For some reason, even though he was finally leaving the aggravatingly demanding tin can by himself for a while, he could not help but realize that he was at Mordekaiser's mercy to be walking by his free will. Who knew what the iron man could do to him at any moment? The auburn-haired man did not consider the Master of Metal to be _nice_ or anything fancy, but he was surprisingly civilized for someone who came straight out of the Shadow Isles.

Still, he would consider his trip to Piltover a quick break from keeping the lord of undead in place.

"Goin' out now," he said as he snapped his fingers, using magic to lock his luggage before picking it up. "If you have to call me, just use the home phone."

"...There's a home phone here?"

"Yup. Just don't tell anyone."

Mordekaiser actually took his time to pause the game he kept mashing buttons at and turned to Mercedes in interest.

"Why?"

Mercedes glanced at the entrance of his room before telling the lord of undead,

"That phone isn't linked with the Demacian phoneline."

"So what's so special about that?"

The auburn-haired man sighed and scratched the back of his head with unfounded vigor. If he did not tell the lord of undead, he would probably find himself turned into a trophy; and he knew how trophies looked like. He then explained a bit more to the iron man,

"I set that up with a special phoneline that only Jarvan knows I set up. I used it often to either order special things or contact others without being identified with a Demacian area code."

"Hm," the Master of Metal nodded, causing Mercedes to wince internally. "I see. I see. But Mercedes, can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"What are phones?"

* * *

It turned out that the Shadow Isles did not use phones.

It amazed the auburn-haired Demacian because from what he could tell, Mordekaiser was used to electronics by a certain extent. Alas, he only used electronics for gaming and other time-killing devices. Never was he able to approach electronics in a useful way.

"…So call that number when you need me, alright?" Mercedes finished explaining the entire history of a phone and the instructions on using it.

"Ye."

"Don't break anything, alright?"

"Don't worry, Mercedes; I'll try keeping your games intact."

"What about the rest of my room?"

"..."

…

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…

…

…

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…

"_**JUST SAY YES OR NO OR SOMETHING, DAMMIT!**_"

"**_HOW ABOUT YOU GET GOING AND STOP WORRYING OVER A STUPID ROOM, YOU IMBECILE!_**"

And thus, the Demacian official took one last look at his room, hoping that it would be in one piece by the time he returned. He had low hopes, though, considering a freaking warlord would roll around in his room without taking his armor off.

As the door shut by the entrance, the lord of undead glanced at it ever so quickly. After a few seconds passed, the Master of Metal concluded that Mercedes was officially "outta-da-house."

"…Now…"

The lord of undead suddenly turned off his game and stood up. He then summoned his mace, letting the weapon rest in his hands. With no one else in the room, he slowly reached out for the head of the mace.

He used his sharp finger to open up a metallic plate hidden underneath the head of the weapon. Without any hesitation, he pressed a button that lay under the plate, causing the mace's head to suddenly open up like a futuristic container.

The Master of Metal took out a copy of his helmet out of it.

Now, at a first glance, it looked as if it was just a backup helmet prepared in case he ever lost his current helmet. But in reality, the helmet was something so much more.

The lord of undead put the grey helmet on the ground. Unlike his current one, the color scheme of the object he took out matched his original color. With a quick kick, Mordekaiser activated the helmet's true function.

Green swirls of energy formed above the helmet as multiple objects burst into existence. Floating above the grey helmet was a red miniature guitar.

The instant moment the lord of undead snatched it out of the air, it grew in size, revealing its blood-red color scheme. The instrument looked like a fire axe with a bunch of strings plastered over it.

"Time to get into some _shredding_ business."

Mordekaiser rocked his guitar like crazy for a prolonged amount of time, finally free of Mercedes complaining about anything loud he did.

* * *

…

…

…

The next day, Sona found herself standing in front of something unexpected.

Standing in front of Mercedes' room was none other than Shyvana the Half-Dragon. The blue half-dragon had her arms crossed as she stood still. From what Sona could tell, Shyvana was waiting for something.

But that something never popped up. Eventually, the blue-skinned woman repeatedly stomped on the ground before storming off, much to Sona's confusion.

_What could be bothering her…?_ Sona thought as she quietly made her way to the entrance of Mercedes' room. Knocking on the door twice, the Demacian maiden softly placed a small lunchbox in front of the entrance. She then walked away.

Only to stand still and watch the door observantly from afar.

She wanted to see how long it would take for the man Mercedes had mentioned to take the lunchbox. She made sure to write a note on it, saying that she needed it by the next day. Hopefully, whoever that was going to take the lunchbox would pay attention to the note.

A few minutes flew by. Sona then found Mercedes' door cracking open.

She found a red hulking suit of armor standing at the entrance, staring at her lunchbox. The armored figure scratched its helmet as it picked the lunchbox up. As the figure looked up to see who placed the lunchbox in front of the dormitory without a word, the armored warrior soon took the lunchbox and shut the door.

Sona blinked.

She had seen the red hulking figure before. It was when she took a quick nap that she first met him. News of his presence had been spreading like wildfire ever since she talked to the Seneschal of Demacia about him.

_So he and Sir Mercedes share the room? _She thought, surprised at what she had witnessed. _That's interesting…_

Sona pondered on the thought a bit more as she walked away quietly.

* * *

And the next day, she came once more. The lunchbox she had put by the entrance had appeared once more, though it was now empty. Putting down a new lunchbox by the entrance, she knocked on the door twice and took the empty lunchbox. When she observed the entrance again, the same figure popped up, snatched the lunchbox, and vanished into Mercedes' room.

* * *

...

And the day after that, the same thing happened.

...

* * *

...

And the day after that.

...

* * *

And the day afterwards.

But the next day after that day, an empty lunchbox did not appear. Though the red-armored man did take her second lunchbox, he did not return the first one. She wondered why… but she decided to wait for him.

So she waited.

* * *

…

…

…

Nighttime arrived as the Maven of Strings stared at the starry nights of Demacia. She sat at a balcony, where she could soothe her mind within the quiet moonlight. Peace enveloped her heart as she reflected upon her day's actions.

Having indulged herself with silence enough, the blue-haired woman decided to go out of the castle.

A blue night glowed above Demacia as the Maven of Strings walked alone. She had no etwahl, with only a few gold coins in a small pouch.

How long had it been since she walked alone like this? Walking down the streets with no instrument to soothe people with… It felt far too foreign for her to familiarize herself with, but it did not necessarily feel bad to walk alone once in a while. She, too, desired times where she did nothing but reflect upon the moon. For while she was too busy for the sun, the moon always stayed up whenever she neared the end of her workload.

So Sona walked alone.

The Maven of Strings found herself entering a quiet bar. This bar, being located near the castle, mostly had nobles alike resting from busy workdays during the night. She had seen most of the nobles' faces, though she doubted that every single one of them remembered her.

"Welcome, Miss Buvelle," the bartender greeted her with a kind smile, and she returned the favor hastily. "Are you here for a drink?"

"_The coldest water you can provide, please."_

"As usual?"

The blue-haired maiden smiled and nodded softly, her long hair brushing against her shoulders like silk. Every once in a while, she would come to the bar and drink water. Though she was not a frequent customer, she tended to pop up in the place at random frequencies.

Soon, the bartender returned with a cup of cold water. She drank, sat and reminisced over the day's events before paying for her drink. The Maven of Strings then left the bar.

As she walked back to the castle, her footsteps echoed across the small streets of Demacia. She sighed as her the noise of her footsteps became faster and faster.

"…_?"_

Something felt off, however. She clearly walked slowly, but the sound of four footsteps bothered her. The Maven of Strings quickly realized that someone was behind her when she attempted to listen to the noises better.

Keeping her calm, the blue-haired maiden continued walking, though she hastened her pace. The footsteps followed her pace, but it failed to keep up properly. Someone was definitely following her.

_I do not wish to use violence, _she thought worriedly. However, when a sudden chill rushed down her spine, Sona's eyes widened as she turned quickly.

A man brought down a knife pointed towards the silent moon to her.

"…!"

Unable to do anything noteworthy through speed and wit without her etwahl, Sona defensively raised her hands as she shut her eyes. This had never happened until now… So why would fate suddenly scare her like this?

She doubted that she would die, but she wanted to avoid critical injuries that could render her unable to play her music. She scampered backwards as her eyes remained shut.

The sound of a large smashing noise, however, broke her out of her fearful state.

Opening her eyes, the blue-haired maiden saw an armored man recovering from a punch he landed on the man who attempted to attack her. This hulking suit of armor soon straightened himself and cracked his neck before turning to her.

Sona Buvelle's eyes locked with the red-armored titan she had observed for the past few days.

How did he find her?

"Buvelle, aren't you?" The armored man asked.

"…_Y-Yes. You are… Sir Caesar, are you not…?"_

Cracking his knuckles, the knight she knew as "Caesar" simply scoffed at the statement. "Caesar… Caesar… Geez, maybe Mercedes was right about that name being stupid…"

"_P-Pardon?"_

"Nothing."

The knight crossed his arms as he walked a bit closer to the Maven of Strings, who took no steps away from the hulking figure. An idle aura emitted from him; she could tell he did not mean her harm.

"Do not call me… that… Maude Caesar thing. To be truthful, I go by _Kaiser._ Maude Caesar is simply the name I use to fill out registration forms and the like."

Kaiser took out an empty lunch box from one of his hands.

"You've been making food for me for the past few days, am I correct?"

Sona stiffened as she gulped. Her timid nature slowly showing to the warrior, the blue-haired woman nodded ever-so-carefully.

Much to her relief, Kaiser chuckled. "Good food," he complimented her as he handed the box to her. "I like it a lot."

Glancing up at Kaiser, then at the lunchbox, Sona timidly received the lunchbox she had been waiting for.

"It's dangerous to go alone in any night," the knight said as he looked to the castle's direction. "Mercedes would have my head if you were hurt. Let us return to the castle."

"_Then… what about that man…?"_

Kaiser turned to the figure who remained unconscious on the streets. He then turned to Sona with a smug tone.

"I've actually been following him all this time. He apparently slipped out of the foolish Dema- er, I mean, my forgetful comrades' grasp. I hit him a few days ago because he committed a light crime. So I did things my way to ensure that he did not do anything drastic. I was not looking for revenge or anything. Alright? I totally didn't attack him because he said something bad about me.

"He'll probably get picked up by some random soldier on patrol."

Sona nodded. This man seemed to know what he was talking about. But aside from his apparent knowledge over his surroundings, Sona could not help but feel interested in knowing more about this Kaiser. Something about him felt… strange.

From what she heard, he was not a proper Demacian, yet he was capable of performing the many deeds a valiant Demacian warrior could do.

He seemed like Mercedes without a complete Demacian Code of Values. She found that to be interesting.

"Well, I don't have all night," Kaiser grumbled as he stretched his arms. "Let's get in the castle now. I wanna go hit the bunk and do absolutely nothing productive again…"

Sona blinked.

She then nodded, her curiosity on this interesting man growing quickly.

_Kaiser..._

_What a peculiar man!_

She would later realize just how peculiar he was. Because the next day, something out-of-the-blue would actually have her extremely concerned for him.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**I personally thought this chapter is not as funny as the other current ones due to it being a chapter that introduces Sona to Mordekaiser for a second time. I assure you that the next one will have you questioning what I put in my drink. Also, I changed the chapter title from "A Frightful Maiden" to another one just because I felt like it fit better.**

**Next chapter: "The Importance of Not Looking Stupid"**


	11. The Importance of Not Being Stupid!

_"Nailed it." - A Zaunite serial killer caught within Piltover_

* * *

The lord of undead found Sona to be an amusing woman.

He had helped her after he stalked the same man that had talked trash about the Shadow Isles. News of the man breaking out caught Mordekaiser's attention; while he normally would not go as far to stalk some zealot of Noxus, he figured it would be a good start to improve his image. Of course, he used violence again in the end, but anyone with a brain during his meeting with Jarvan would know that the Code of Whatever-That-Word-Was did not apply to him yet.

She had a peaceful aura to her. She always had it, even when he first met her, and it did not seem to change even during the night.

_I could always use a little bit of faith,_ the lord of legions thought as he mashed a bunch of buttons.

The cream puffs in Demacia were not that expensive. They had acceptable prices to them, as they were made of high quality ingredients. But obviously, the Master of Metal did not give a crap about something he could accomplish in practically one day. What he was here for was Relish's corpse. Relish. Revilish. Or whatever the heck the dead guy's name was. After all, which objective would he try to accomplish first? Buying a thousand cream puffs or _**retrieving Athene's Unholy Grail?**_

The answer seemed obvious. But he first needed to wait a bit before he could truly get into his infiltration mission.

One weakness Mordekaiser knew that most mortals had was _time._ Through time, many let their guards down to those they come to trust. At the moment, Mordekaiser was in the stage where he needed to get the people in Jarvan's castle to trust him before he could truly get into business. He predicted that it would not take that long, considering Demacians tended to be the most naïve of humans.

Things would go his way, and _**KNOCK KNOCK **_by the time _**KNOCK KNOCK**_ he gets the fools _**KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK**_ accustomed to him, he would then _**KNOCK **_be able _**KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK**_ to _**KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK-**_

"_**GUARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**_"

No one knew how to knock once. Something was wrong with Demacia. Throwing Mercedes' controller on the ground, the lord of legions stormed over to the door and swung it open.

"Stop knocking on the _**FREAKING-**_"

…

…

…

The person standing in front of the door was none other than Jarvan IV.

The Shadow Isles warlord's eyes nearly popped out of its sockets.

"…door, sir."

The prince blinked, clearly startled by the Master of Metal's outburst. No man moved as a few seconds of silence flew by. Jarvan stared at Mordekaiser, and Mordekaiser suddenly found his door to be super interesting.

"Well, I agree that I shouldn't have knocked so much!" Jarvan suddenly said, laughing lightly as he put a hand on one of the lord of undead's shoulder plates. "Do you have time?"

"…Time for what?"

A grin appeared on the Exemplar of Demacia's face.

"Some _basics_, good man."

For a brief moment, the Master of Metal did not know what Jarvan spoke of. He then remembered that the prince himself wanted to teach him some manners, starting from etiquette.

Mordekaiser turned to the room, then at the prince.

Maybe for once, he would abandon his games to get the prince's trust. He did not seem to be an idiot compared to his comrades, anyway.

"…Fi- er, sounds good, sir."

* * *

_Jarvan IV presents…_

**THE IMPORTANCE OF NOT BEING STUPID**

_Featuring_

**Mordekaiser**

**Jarvan IV**

_**Notice**: Try this at home, kids._

* * *

...

...

...

"The first thing you must keep in mind is that violence is not an option to solve problems until it is absolutely necessary to apprehend a foe."

Mordekaiser nodded.

Before he realized he was in a prison building.

For some reason, the lord of legions was getting a feeling that Jarvan might be both an idiot and a genius for using his own prisoners as test dummies. He soon brought a shady-looking prisoner in front of Mordekaiser and gave him a knife.

"If you defeat Kaiser over there," Jarvan told the prisoner, "then you will get a free desert pass."

"_**?! HnghhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! YOU'RE DEAD MEAT, TASER!**_"

"_**WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME, PRISON SCUM?!**_"

Soon, the prisoner darted forward with a knife raised by his head, screaming as he approached Kaiser.

Mordekaiser decided to play cheap and use his powers.

Standing still, the lord of undead commanded the knife to bend.

The prisoner slammed the knife against Mordekaiser's chest, only to find that the knife was bent to the point where it stabbed his own arm instead.

The lord of undead smirked. "Oops."

The prisoner smiled. "You f_**$%#**_ boy."

A few seconds later, the prisoner began screaming not out of adrenaline, but in pain. Jarvan's eyes sparkled as he put out two thumbs up for the Master of Metal.

"You didn't even do anything and trusted that the prisoner would make a mistake on his own! _**PERFECT!**_"

The Master of Metal crossed his arms, pretending to be exhausted as he whispered, "_This truly is a hard task._ I'm not sure if I'll make it at this rate."

"Do not worry!" Jarvan exclaimed as the prisoner started screaming for help, "If you fall behind, I will be the _carry_ of your battle!"

* * *

"The next thing you need to keep in mind is that when you eat, you must eat with an artful elegance."

Jarvan and Mordekaiser sat at a restaurant, a massive cuisine placed on their table. The lord of legions stared at the food.

Artfully eating food… How could such a task be done?

Right then, the Master of Metal came to a solution.

Mordekaiser tossed aside his utensils and clawed at the food on the table, throwing anything inedible into the air. Bones, lemon peels, and dozens of other useless things. Jarvan witnessed a rainbow forming in the air as a weird spark flashed behind his eyes.

"Yes! Just like that! _**DELIVER THE ELEGANCE!**_"

The Master of Metal did not give a living crap about Jarvan's overjoyed smile and went on to consume the entire Demacian cuisine by himself.

* * *

"You must also know that when you walk, you do not walk to bring intimidation to those around you outside of wars. You must make sure to keep a proper and refined walking style to show what you exactly are."

As soon as Jarvan finished explaining, he walked out of his castle with the lord of undead.

Mordekaiser walked like a normal person. Jarvan winced before shaking his head.

The Master of Metal then proceeded to walk like a gangster. Jarvan closed his eyes and shook his head.

The lord of legions even went as far as to walk like a female fashion model. Jarvan shook his head even though he was mimicking Mordekaiser. Some of the guards outside of the castle raised their eyebrows at two tall, armored men walking out of the castle in the sexiest(?) way possible.

Deeming that he had enough of trying to find how to walk properly, he decided to do the exact opposite of walking.

The lord of undead started backflipping in the most fabulous fashion he could pull off.

At this, the Exemplar of Demacia headbanged several times before screaming, "_**BEAUTIFUL**_. _Kaiser, you're getting the hang of this quickly, aren't you?! I knew you'd catch on well!_"

Truth be told, Mordekaiser did not know what the f_**#$%**_ was going on. The lord of undead decided to just go with the flow and do whatever the prince seemed to enjoy. The two men backflipped back into the castle as celebration for Mordekaiser's understanding of Jarvan's lessons so far.

* * *

"When you escort a lady, you must _not_ do so like a gentleman, but like the _gentlest_ man."

Mordekaiser stood in the middle of an empty ball room with Jarvan, who stood next to an orange-haired… girl. She wore blue robes like Mercedes, though it had little to no decorations on it.

"First, ask her for her name," Jarvan instructed to the Master of Metal, who turned to the frightened girl.

He cracked his knuckles as he asked gruffly, "The hell's your name?"

"Not good!" The Exemplar of Demacia interrupted the orange-haired girl, who did not get the chance to speak yet. "When you speak to a lady of Demacia, you must know how to control the urge to barrage her with words. You must speak delicately."

"So it doesn't matter if I think of her as a pile of trash?"

Jarvan put up a thoughtful look. "…Probably," he said in the most un-princely way.

Regaining his confidence to do something he did not understand at all, Mordekaiser cracked his neck as he turned to the orange-haired girl. "Your name?" He asked, attempting to make his voice less intimidating. He ended up sounding like a robot.

"Nope!" Jarvan exclaimed, interrupting the orange-haired girl yet again. "You got the talking part, but your body movements say otherwise!"

The Master of Metal tried again.

"Your name?"

"A bit better! Just try putting a bit more effort into your voice."

Mordekaiser sighed.

What in the actual crap was he doing?

"_Your name?_"

"_**PERFECT!**_"

Jarvan clapped fervently as he pretended to fire a gun with one hand towards Mordekaiser's direction, a wide smile entering his well-structured face. "That is the perfect balance. Neither lustful nor soulless; just the perfect combination of attention and interest.

"Now, if you will, Clementine."

The orange-haired girl who stood still like a statue jumped in place, glancing between Jarvan and Mordekaiser fervently. She had been working at the library before the prince sort of kidnapped her. But since he was the prince, and she worked in his castle, she had decided earlier not to scream for help.

"I-I am Margaret Clementine," she said, bowing lightly. "Nice to meet you, sir…?"

Mordekaiser crossed his arms. "Kaiser," he finished for her in a linear tone. Margaret nodded timidly.

"Now! Kaiser, you must prove your epicness by learning how to dance. Watch me!"

"…**wat**."

The Exemplar of Demacia snickered as he tore off his armor, leaving its respective parts on the ground. Underneath the armor lay a golden tuxedo that shined in the smoothest way possible. Still wearing his large helmet, the prince himself approached Margaret and raised his hands.

"_I will lead the dance,"_ he whispered to her as he glanced at Mordekaiser's direction. _"Don't worry and just follow my lead."_

"Al…right."

And thus, Jarvan showed Mordekaiser his dance.

To put it in fancy words, the dance was a visual piece of literature. He danced with a smoothness that made him look like the new generation's "dancing bomb." The mixture of tango and well-paced spins unique to Demacia's culture painted a beautiful image featuring the prince and a lucky maiden who had the chance to dance with him.

To put it simply, Jarvan showed off.

"Now, Kaiser!" Jarvan exclaimed as he wiped sweat off of his forehead. "_Dance!_"

"…"

Unsure of how to respond to Jarvan's mission, the lord of undead walked up to Margaret and grasped her hands without asking a single question. The prince blinked.

"_Do you know how to dance?"_ Mordekaiser whispered to the orange-haired Demacian, who shrinked at the idea of teaching others how to dance.

"_N-Not really!"_

"_Fine, then. I'll take the lead, but if you can't keep up, go grovel in a corner or something."_

"…_Huh?"_

As soon as he stopped talking to the girl, he proceeded to spin her in place like a tractricoid on fire. As the girl screamed in fear, Mordekaiser proceed to spin like a tractricoid as well.

Jarvan watched two tractricoids approaching each other slowly, both of them picking up speed rather than slowing down. As soon as the two tractricoids collided, Mordekaiser caught Margaret and lifted her into the air with one hand, letting her spin on her back on his iron hand. He then proceeded to lower her before catching her legs, ending up in a pose as if he just finished a tango.

The Exemplar of Demacia was so impressed, his helmet fell off of his head.

The lady Mordekaiser just danced with fainted instantly.

* * *

After trials and tribulations, Mordekaiser finally reached the end of Jarvan's lessons. The two stood in front of each other in the throne room. The Exemplar of Demacia smiled.

"As expected of a man raised under Mercedes' care," he complimented, "you have impressed me well."

"…Thank you," Mordekaiser said, though he did not know just what was impressive about acting stupid in the middle of the day.

"Though I have more to teach you, this will be sufficient for now," the Exemplar of Demacia stated. "Keep these things in mind, and you will be fine."

"Yes sir. (Noob)."

The lord of undead had to admit, however, Jarvan's apparent respect for him personally made him feel giddy. He did not know why, but it just did. Perhaps it just reminded him how great respect felt. It reminded him of the Shadow Isles, where everyone respected him to a massive extent.

The Shadow Isles…

He missed its scent.

"Now, Kaiser! To celebrate the learning of these things, we shall depart for dinner together! _Ha ha ha!_"

Mordekaiser sighed as the Exemplar of Demacia dragged him out of the throne room. He wondered how long he had to put up with the agonizing act of a faithful bodyguard before he could start getting into some real business for the Shadow Isles. As the two left the room, however, a certain half-dragon had been observing the throne room.

Through a hidden camera set up through magic.

In a separate room.

"…_What is he planning…?_" Shyvana seethed as she stared at a small screen hovering in front of her, her teeth slowly grinding against each other. "_And what's up with all the weird things they did?! He sure did seem to enjoy dancing. Ugh..._"

"…More than that, why do you have a problem with Sir Kaiser?" The noble Garen asked.

The two stood in one of the meeting rooms the Demacians used often within Jarvan's castle. The Might of Demacia sighed as he crossed his arms, shaking his head at the sight of a concerned Half-Dragon.

"Shyvana, you need to keep in mind that as long as Prince Jarvan trusts that man, we must follow his example and do the same."

At this, the blue-skinned woman flinched. The fire in her eyes died away as her adrenaline deflated.

"I'm just worried…" The woman mumbled quietly as embarrassment gave way. "I just want to make sure Jarvan is okay…"

Garen raised an eyebrow before he glanced at the door. Surely, he did not always need to use mannerisms when he talked with a friend, right?

"Shyvana," he pointed out as he walked over to Shyvana, who sat at the meeting room's table. "As strange as Jarvan could act sometimes, he knows who to trust. And we have to trust him on that."

Shyvana opened her mouth to say something before shutting it softly. Pouting, the Half-Dragon put her arms on the table and buried her face in them.

The woman muttered something. It was probably something about Jarvan not paying attention to her words of advice.

The Might of Demacia could not help but grin at the sight of a flustered warrior, who was also a dear friend of his. With that in mind, he did hope that any malicious thoughts of Kaiser could dissipate so that he could have less to worry about. After all, there were plenty of other things to worry about, such as the unnerving situation between Demacia and Noxus.

* * *

…

…

…

Kalista stared at a tanned spearwoman in the middle of a jungle.

When she woke up, she found herself lying down in some sort of poorly-constructed shelter made of leaves and sticks. It took her a while to regain full control over her body, and the moment she did, the Shadow Isles spearwoman slipped out of the shelter to analyze her surroundings.

She was in the Kumungu Jungle.

And there was another woman who had a frighteningly large spear in her hands.

For some reason, though Kalista knew she might be able to survive if she engaged combat with this tanned lady, something about the jungle huntress felt off. See, normally, Kalista would think, "Perhaps _we_ can coerce her into giving us information on how to leave."

Instead, she thought, _Our lives are in danger._

She really did not know why. Oh, but she could tell that the emotion she felt was _fear_. Something about this huntress, who wore only bits of fur and animal skin, frightened her. She felt the need to run- and she knew she was right.

"..."

"...H...Hello-"

Without a single ounce of hesitation, Kalista ran off into the depths of Kumungu Jungle as soon as the huntress spoke. She preferred having to deal with creatures of nature than the force of nature itself.

_We must report this to Lord Mordeakaiser and Hecarim once we rendezvous with them,_ the Spear of Vengeance thought as she vanished.

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

But unbeknownst to Kalista, the huntress she just met was the same person who set up the shelter made of sticks and leaves.

Nidalee remained still, watching where the blue-skinned Shadow Isles denizen ran off to. When the Spear of Vengeance vanished completely, so did her hopes of making a friend in the jungle.

Ah. How much she wanted a friend.

And yet, another one had run off.

"_I see,_" Nidalee whispered to herself as she walked back to her shelter, _alone_ once more. "_I see._"

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Just a curious question: who do you think is the strongest champion in the Steel Revolution / League of Legends universe so far? I'm personally thinking that either the Shurima gods are pretty top tier in terms of lore, but then again, Azir got rekt by a dude that fires funny laser beams and balls of light.**

**Next chapter: "Un, Deux, Trois!"**


	12. Un, Deux, Trois!

"_How **smashing**." –Nigel Thornberry_

* * *

Mordekaiser believed that he was not an ordinary man. If he was, he would not be sneaking into Demacian territory with all sorts of good and bad intentions. And if he was, he would not be manipulating metal for both combat and comfort.

So when he saw a woman he never saw before with a fencing blade, Mordekaiser picked her up, twisted his body, and suplexed her right outside of Mercedes' dormitory.

"…You are _Kaiser_, correct?" The woman asked, her idle expression unwavering.

"…"

Realizing that he was not in Jarvan's castle to fight everyone that approached him, the Master of Metal stood back up as the woman followed suite.

"Yes," he answered. "I am Kaiser."

The fencer stared blankly at him. Mordekaiser recalled Mercedes talking about a famed fencer whose household's name fell into disgrace. There were some fishy things going on behind the household, and apparently, a feminine fencer who represented the house's pride fervently fought to reclaim honor.

But he forgot her name. And the household's name. Wait! She must be-

"You're Tiara Shawshank, right?"

"Fiora Laurent."

Close enough.

The woman wore light armor with a white-and-cyan skintights. A streak of red-pink flowed from her dark hair to the sides of her face. Mordekaiser could tell from a single glance that she had seen battles.

Especially after his suplex did not leave a single scratch on her.

"You," Fiora spoke as she shut her eyes slowly, "are just as he says."

"…? Who?"

The dark-haired Demacian smiled.

Suddenly, the fencer burst into a combination of curiosity and admiration, her eyes shining as she opened them widely.

"You are… the warrior from Kumungu Jungle, are you not?!" She exclaimed, her voice rising. "The same man who instantly received recognition from both Mercedes and Prince Jarvan IV himself?!"

The lord of undead remained still. Was the Laurent House always full of these kinds of idiots? From what he heard, the Laurents were supposed to be honorable and stuck up. The… thing in front of him said otherwise, and he did not know whether to feel relieved or disgusted.

"_**TELL ME!**_"

"_**HOT DAMN- SHUT UP, WOMAN!**_"

Fiora blinked before clearing her throat. After a few seconds of readjusting her idle expression, the woman spoke once more.

"Excuse my excitement."

…_And now it's impossible to take her seriously. Good job, Shawshank._

As the Master of Metal sighed, the Grand Duelist continued, "It's just that… I have always looked up to those who live by honor and straightforward battle prowess. Seeing someone who is highly regarded by such men with high standards amazed me. When I saw your armor, I knew I had to see you at least once, so I had Prince Jarvan send me to this room."

Mordekaiser raised an eyebrow.

"So… Let me be clear," the Master of Metal attempted to organize the scattered thoughts in his mind. "What did Jarvan exactly tell you about me?"

Curiosity sparked in Mordekaiser's soul when Fiora beamed.

"Well, first things first, you exacted justice not too long ago on a Noxian zealot by challenging him, right?"

The Master of Metal challenged that man… right? No wait, he did not. It was a one-sided landslide that occurred due to Mordekaiser becoming saltier than the entire ocean at the Noxian's remark. But technically, the Noxian indirectly challenged the Shadow Isles' greatness. Mordekaiser had to accept the challenge.

"Yes," he answered.

"And before that, you were trained by Councilor Mercedes?"

At her statement, Mordekaiser grew curious. Mercedes? A councilor of Demacia? Now that he thought about it, Mercedes did seem to have a lot of influence to certain people in Demacia. He could perhaps use that to his own advantage later…

"Yes," he answered.

"And you fought ten dragons on your own?"

"…What?"

"And then you faced off against an island full of bloodthirsty pirates, challenging every single one of them to a duel as you spread the glory of Demacia's dueling standards? And then you brought down an underground organization located within Noxus? _And then you dueled with practical every dragon and scum outside of Demacia?_"

"_**WHERE THE F#$% DID THAT COME FROM?!**_"

Mordekaiser cleared his throat, shaking his head. He did not want to approach whatever the heck Jarvan smoked at the slightest.

"Listen, Shawshank-"

"Fiora."

"-Fiora. Listen, Shawshank Fiora. I'm not what he says I am. Though I am awesome in so many extents, I did not go out to randomly kill a bunch of freaking dragons for no justified reason. Even I find clever reasons to fight stuff."

"But you challenged them to duels. Isn't that a justified reason?"

_This woman and her duels…_

Crossing his arms, the lord of undead asked, "Who the hell told you about all of this, anyway?"

"Jarvan."

"And where did he get this information from?"

"Mercedes."

Mordekaiser smashed the palms of his hands against his face.

"…Look," he muttered, barely able to prevent himself from shouting blasphemous words straight out of the Internet, "maybe what he said was… you know, a figure of speech? Do you honestly think a guy with a bit of armor would march into a lair of dragons and kill them all in one Mace of Spa- er, Demacia?"

"Mace of Demacia?"

"It's a thing I made up. Don't talk about it."

Fiora put up a thoughtful look. Thankfully for the Master of Metal, she did not seem to be as stupid as her first impression on him made her out to be.

"You're right. Maybe he was exaggerating. Perhaps he simply cared for you and wanted to shower your name with praise."

_Oh, he cares about me, alright,_ the lord of legions thought darkly. _And he's going to care a lot more when he comes back._

"But," she said with a small smile as her composed attitude returned, "a man like him does not respect anyone as easily as a fool would."

Interesting. Despite what Mercedes said, this Fiora did not have the sharp attitude the Demacian official claimed she had. Maybe it was because she addressed him as someone up around whatever league Mercedes or Jarvan was at.

But truly, he did not know how important Mercedes job was in the castle. He knew what it was, he just did not care enough to look into it more.

Because cream puffs. Relish (or whatever the heck his name was) and his dead body. The other Shadow Isles officers. He had plenty to worry about.

"Anyway, Prince Jarvan sent me to check up on you," the Laurent finally explained. "It seems that you are doing fine, yes?"

"…Yeah."

Fiora tilted her head at the Master of Metal.

"I've never heard anyone speak like you in a long time."

"Blame Kumungu."

The Grand Duelist nodded assuringly. "Speaking of which, Prince Jarvan requested me to ask if you are willing to eat lunch with him."

"Jarvan did?"

Nodding, the dark-haired woman explained, "He invited you to a light-hearted feast. I suggest you come pay your respects and dine with us."

A lunch with Jarvan himself. Normally, the lord of legions would find the invitation suspicious, but due to how… weirdly the prince acted towards him any information related to him, he concluded that he could slowly sap more information out of Demacia if he stayed closer to him more often. If there was nothing special with the feast, then he would stop caring about it, anyway.

"'K, then," he spoke simply. "Let's go."

And thus, the Grand Duelist escorted the Master of Metal to Jarvan's dining hall.

* * *

…

…

…

A troubled look conveyed Sona's feelings at her current position.

A special feast had been assigned by Jarvan IV himself, inviting his close comrades to dine with him for lunch. This was considered to be a great honor, as no ordinary man could dine with Jarvan IV without having him feel like it first. Garen Crownguard and Xin Zhao accepted the invitation faster than the speed of light could, and since every other Demacian officer accepted, she naturally accepted the invitation as well. So she had packed her etwahl, her iconic blue dress, and a bright smile to accompany her face.

But she forgot to pack lunch for Kaiser.

She sat at a long table, where Garen, Xin Zhao, and Jarvan had already begun sharing their interesting bits of their lives. Shyvana and Vayne shared a conversation about some sort of business they had yet to deal with, and Quinn made sure her bird partner, Valor, ate up plentifully. The stoic gargoyle, Galio, stared at his food blankly, while the small yordle of Demacia, Poppy, did exactly the same.

And here she was, worrying over a simple box of lunch she forgot to pack.

_What should I do…?_ She thought worriedly, softly biting her bottom lip as she stared at the salad nearby her seat. _What should I do…_

As Xin Zhao shared a funny incident he remembered confronting alongside Jarvan's father, Garen noticed a squirming Sona who did nothing but poke at her food. Wondering why she seemed so nervous, the Crownguard excused himself from his comrades' incoming argument over whether fighting dragons or angry women was harder than the other.

"Miss Buvelle?" The brown-haired man asked as he walked over to the Maven of Strings. Her eyes widening, the blue-haired lady turned to the Might of Demacia.

"_Y…es…?_"

"It seems that something is bothering you," the Crownguard pointed out as he came to a halt nearby her seat. "If I can assist you, then feel free to inform me of your problems."

Sona smiled, though Garen could tell that she had decided not to tell him. "_Thank you, Sir Garen,_" she spoke telepathically.

The brown-haired knight nodded, looking around awkwardly before turning back to the Maven of Strings. Making a thumbs-up and pointing at Xin Zhao and Jarvan's direction, the Might of Demacia quickly retreated. As much as she appreciated his help, she did not want to speak of the worry she felt over a simple lunchbox.

"…"

Before the woman returned to mulling over her mistake, the double doors to the Jarvan's personal dining room opened. Everyone turned to the doors, revealing none other than the Master of Metal himself.

"Kaiser!" Jarvan exclaimed. "You have come- _**WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO YOU?!**_"

The lord of undead carried the Grand Duelist bridal style, both of them dusty and scorched. The fencer remained still in the Master of Metal's arms, rambling on about how she wanted a utopia of duelists in her dreams. Letting out a cough, Mordekaiser walked into the dining room and closed the door with his feet.

Shyvana raised a suspicious eyebrow, Galio returned to staring at his food, and Sona could do nothing but stare at the armored bodyguard of Mercedes. She felt relief, but at the same time, she wondered why he came to the dining hall.

She also wondered why the red-armored warrior looked as if he just went on a journey through heaven and hell with Fiora.

"I was attacked," Mordekaiser explained, "by a freaking flamethrower."

Everyone fell silent. Shyvana stiffened when she noticed that everyone turned to her.

"_Why are you all staring at me?!_"

The Exemplar of Demacia sighed as he closed his eyes. "Shyvana," he said with a sympathizing tone, "I understand you want to burn the flesh of fleshlings, but please do control yours-"

The Half-Dragon threw a chicken bone at Jarvan's head, instantly knocking him off of his chair. Though Garen went ahead to ask if Jarvan was alright, Xin Zhao remained seated with an indifferent look.

After all, it was far too common to see this kind of sight behind the grand image of Jarvan's seemingly boring men.

Mordekaiser glanced at the Grand Duelist, who continued to mumble gibberish. He shook his head as he went over to where Galio sat at. Just before he dumped the dark-haired fencer on the seat next to the gargoyle, however, he noticed a small yordle staring at her food dumbly.

So he dumped the fencer on the yordle anyway.

"Why," Poppy let out the instant moment she felt Fiora colliding against her. Thanks to the yordle's reflexes, she ended up sitting on Fiora's lap. All was well when Mordekaiser decided to disregard mannerisms.

Xin Zhao raised a hand as he confessed, "I installed automated flamethrowers in front of my dormitory."

"_**DON'T INSTALL RANDOM CRAP IN MY CASTLE WITHOUT MY CONSENT, DAMMIT!**_" Jarvan screamed as he bolted up from the ground, pointing at the Seneschal of Demacia.

Startled by the Exemplar's sudden recovery, Garen tipped back and started spinning around like a Beyblade, screaming "_**DEMACIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA**_" as he collided against a bunch of empty tables at the side of the small dining hall. Mordekaiser clapped for the Might of Demacia's entertaining(?) performance.

"Anyway, Kaiser," Jarvan said as he calmed himself down, "welcome to the _Mead Hall._ I've been planning on using this place to eat lunch with my officers more often, but today happened to be a good day to die- I mean, dine."

Mordekaiser nodded. He was amazed how no one discovered he was not a Demacian yet, but then again, he just happened to get the awesome false evidence-generating machine known as Mercedes.

And the Demacians were sort of idiotic. It actually reminded him a bit of the Shadow Isles.

He wondered what the Ruined King was doing at the moment.

The lord of undead ended up sitting at the end of the table across the Exemplar of Demacia. As he looked through the food placed on the dining table, Jarvan spoke, "First come is first served here, Kaiser!"

And thus, the lord of undead slowly picked up a fried chicken leg.

He hated chicken.

He hated chickens. So. Much. And it was all because of Thresh that he could not stand eating chickens.

So he put the chicken down and went for some salad instead. The salad did not taste that good, but it was still better than chicken could ever be to him.

Sona stared at the Master of Metal, who consumed one bowl of salad by himself before devouring some fish. Like the large man he was, he ate quite a lot. The Maven of Strings then noticed something strange.

As he stuffed his fork into some fish, a spoon floated over to the center of the table. The blue-haired woman watched the spoon slowly dip itself into some mushroom soup before returning to the Master of Metal. Swallowing the fish he just ate, he tasted the soup before looking visibly intrigued by the soup's taste.

He had a power. Perhaps it was the power to levitate objects?

Nevertheless, Sona watched on. For some reason, the hulking giant of a warrior had a somewhat excited aura. Though she could not read his mind, he seemed to be enjoying himself. Something about his lack of mannerisms made him interesting to watch, as most Demacians did not show such things even in the public. Sure, her friends acted naturally when they were in the castle, but in the public, they wore masks of nobility in order to garner respect and hold an ideal image of what the citizens of Demacia looked up to.

But the Master of Metal showed none of that. He seemed to be honest to not only her, but the public as well. She felt envious, but at the same time, she found herself growing interested in the mace-wielder.

"How about we go fishing some time?" Jarvan asked out loud in a very unprincely manner. "I wanna go fishing!"

Xin Zhao paled at the mention of fishing. "The last time I went, I caught Tahm Kench. Not in a single chance would I ever try to risk my life again."

"But you fished near a marsh. Who fishes near marshes?"

Xin Zhao slammed the table with an open hand as he shouted proudly,

"_**I DO!**_"

"_**THEN DON'T DO IT!**_" Jarvan screamed.

Vayne raised a hand. Everyone turned to the Night Hunter as she stated, "There are three places that have fantastic fishing spots: the Serpentine River, Ionia, and a local river that's a bit close to us."

Garen put up a thoughtful look. "How about we go to the local river, then?" He asked. "It's close to us, and I doubt we're trying to go catch a monster or something."

At this, Galio, who had been keeping silent for a long time, pointed out, "Ah. Actually, the local river is closed."

"Huh?" Jarvan blinked at this. "Why?"

"Apparently a ghastly centaur popped out of nowhere and destroyed the lone dam in there on his way to Freljord. So now there's no dam in there."

"What?! _Wait, how the heck did I not know that, actually?_ This sucks…"

…_That sounds a lot like Hecarim,_ Mordekaiser admitted in his thoughts. _He usually breaks everything if he gets nervous or lonely. Actually, I'm not sure if the latter is just an excuse to break things._

Jarvan sighed. Shyvana remained silent, clearly wanting to say something. However, the relationship she had with Jarvan tended to make him take her remarks in a carefree manner. The Half-Dragon squirmed a bit before finally mustering up her courage.

_The Serpentine River, _the Half-Dragon encouraged herself silently._ Let's go to the Serpentine River! If I remember correctly, there are some cheap booths at the Northern portion of the river. And there's a lot of fish!_

_You can do this, Shyv! Just… Just ask him casually. And don't let him take you without a bit of seriousness. Be natural. You just need to keep your cool. You're the bomb, Shyvana. You can do this. You can do this you can do this you can do this._

_Let's do this!_

Right as she attempted to convey her thoughts, however, Mordekaiser suddenly asked,

"Then why not the Serpentine River?"

_**YOU MOTHERF#$%ER-**_

Jarvan raised an eyebrow, curious as to why "Kaiser" decided to mention the place. Mordekaiser explained,

"The Serpentine River is known to have plenty of fish, neither harmless nor generally lazy. If I recall correctly, some fishing booths provide free boats in return for fishing for over an hour. Aside from the free stuff, there are pretty cheap booths if you go a bit North to the Serpentine River. Most of them will be cheaper than the ones you can find in Ionia."

Shyvana's jaw slammed against the table as one of her eyes twitched.

And Jarvan just seemed to explode into a firework of pride and joy.

"_As expected of our latest trend in the Demacian press!_" The prince exclaimed joyfully as he bolted up from his chair. "Then it's decided! We go to the Serpentine River _**TOMORROW!**_"

Xin Zhao blinked. "Wait, _tomorrow?_ That's when my new spear arrives though-"

"Just pick your spear up later."

"Then what if it's stolen?"

"I'll chop their head off. Wow, I'm looking forward to tomorrow already! Ha ha ha!"

Garen laughed alongside the Exemplar of Demacia, and Quinn finally stopped stuffing Valor with a bunch of vegetables to laugh. Poppy finally ate a bit of mushroom soup while Vayne clapped for the prince's joy.

Shyvana let her forehead rest against the table. Just when did the Master of Metal get so much information on the Serpentine River?

Mordekaiser chuckled internally as he took a bite out of some nearby fish.

_So those Wikipedia pages Karthus printed off were actually reliable! I should edit every Wikipedia page so that they say "Mordekaiser is awesome." That would surely make my awesomeness just as authentic, right? Ha ha ha! HA HA HA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHUE__**HUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUE!**_

Unbeknownst to himself, the lord of undead began laughing quietly as the Mead Hall returned to its usual chaos again.

Sona smiled.

It was nice to find someone new to Demacia contributing to the prince's comfort, but it was even better to find people laughing.

The Mead Hall became louder and louder as time progressed. Eventually, things returned back to normal when Jarvan and his officers left.

Though, Mordekaiser made sure he would look up as to why he became a trend in the Demacian press.

* * *

…

…

…

The Master of Metal mashed the buttons of a controller he made for the sake of not destroying Mercedes' fragile controllers.

"_You must follow us to our fishing trip!" _Jarvan had told him. "_I'd jump into a pit of lava if you didn't! You're coming with us, right?"_

The iron man shook his head as he slashed an unfortunate enemy across the head with a greatsword.

_Fishing, huh?_ Mordekaiser thought as he sighed. _Sometimes I wonder why the world is designed for my own comfort. If these Demacians were "Highly Intelligent Creatures," then they would have allowed me to dig around their graves and let me be. But alas, the world is too systematic and full of that one thing known as "trust."_

As the lord of undead slaughtered a bunch of soldiers in his way, he heard someone knock on the door. The Master of Metal decided to pause the game.

The lord of undead scratched the back of his helmet as he walked up to the entrance of the dormitory. He opened the door abruptly.

He found the Maven of Strings with a small box in her hands. She was in the process of leaving it on the ground, but upon seeing the Master of Metal himself, a bit of heat invaded her cheeks as she stood back up.

"_Hello, Sir Kaiser,_" she blurted out, lifting the box to his direction. "_I brought… dinner._"

Mordekaiser raised an eyebrow as he took the box from the Maven of Strings. He then proceeded to open the box right in front of the blue-haired maiden.

The Master of Metal froze when he saw the contents of the box, which seemed to shine with immense intensity.

_T-This is…!_

A giant burrito. One big burrito. Full of the fresh vegetables, full of meat! And the meat inside the burrito did not happen to be chicken meat, either!

_I had no idea they sold guacamole and sour cream in Demacia! _Mordekaiser screamed internally out of sheer excitement. _Holy crap; __**I had no idea they sold guacamole and sour cream in **__**Demacia**__**!**__ This place has more than just cream puffs and some dead guy's body left in the middle of nowhere!_

Thanks to Sona, Mordekaiser gained another reason to be in Demacia. He would gather some guacamole and sour cream- two ingredients rare to the Shadow Isles- and snatch some recipes. That way, he would be able to make up for the lack of guacamole and sour cream in the Shadow Isles!

"…Sona, right?"

"…_? Y-Yes._"

The Master of Metal placed one of his ironclad hands on her right shoulder, startling the blue-haired maiden.

"This is awesomesauce. I'll make sure to pay you back."

The Maven of Strings bit her lips before she quickly spoke, "_N-No! You do not need to pay me back, Sir Kaiser._"

"I **will.** This is great stuff. Really great stuff. Hot damn, look at all of this! Holy Sour-Guacamole-Cream!"

Sona seemed like she wanted to say something else, but in the end, she responded with a small "_Thank you._"

The lord of undead nodded as he reached for his door. Before he closed it, however, he heard the maiden's feminine voice again.

"_Um! Sir Kaiser!_"

"…Ye?"

"…_I look forward to the fishing trip._"

Sona fidgeted with her dress as she looked up at the tall warrior. Mordekaiser remained silent for a few seconds.

He then nodded once.

The Master of Metal quietly shut the door. Sona sighed in relief as the tension within her body flew out. So he liked burritos. A strange trait for someone in Demacia to have, considering that those foods were more popular in places like Piltover or Zaun. The Maven of Strings began walking to her dormitory.

She could not help but smile at the Master of Metal's warm hand. Despite being covered in iron, she definitely felt a warm heat from his grasp. She wondered why, but perhaps that made him more human than he made himself out to be.

Perhaps it would be best if she befriended the mace-wielding Kaiser. It seemed like a great idea.

* * *

…

…

…

Somewhere in Noxus, Talon, the Blade's Shadow, remained hooded as he cleaned his blades of the blood that stained them. He had just finished a hit ordered to him by Swain. It had something to do with an ungrateful pest that persisted in keeping some sort of trade system going on without the permission of Noxus' leader. The hooded man walked out of an alley as he took a deep breath.

Suddenly, a half-naked, blue-skinned man with a strange mask popped out of a purple portal right in front of him.

…_Eh?_

The stranger grabbed Talon by his waist before lifting the Blade's Shadow up in the air. With an immense amount of strength, the blue-skinned man suplexed Talon, instantly knocking him out. Laughing, the masked man entered another purple portal that popped out of nowhere before vanishing completely.

Talon, the Blade's Shadow, got wrecked by some half-naked dude he never met before. From then on, he would come to realize that this was no coincidence, and that it would lead to an aggravating struggle between life and death itself.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**I personally think Morde is the strongest not because of his current power, but because of his potential. Aside from him, it would be Thresh, who can literally become a massive threat to even Purifiers if he gathers enough souls. Just an opinion, tho!**

**Next chapter: "Itsy Bitsy Spider-Out-Of-Freaking-Nowhere"**


	13. The Current Whereabouts of The Officers!

"_College is like League of Legends. Your professors try to gank you with homework and tests to weed out the weak. It all gets worse when you realize you can't surrender at twenty." – A-Guy-Who-Wants-To-Sound-Intelligent-Even-Though-He-Ends-Up-Sounding-Nerdy-As-F#$%_

* * *

_The Noxians are meeting again. O de le joy!_

…_Not._

_Every single time I went to the meeting, something… out-of-the-ordinary happened. It was almost guaranteed that something strange happened. Every single time, Vladimir makes a sex joke. Every single time, Sion makes a death joke. Every single time, that stupid rat comes out of nowhere and turns our Mead Hall into a Smell Hall. Every single time, Swain derails the purpose of the meeting and ends up doing nothing productive. At the very least, when Swain is serious, everyone else gets serious._

_So far, Talon is the only one who did not do anything weird._

_But these days, the Mead Hall seems to be doing fine. After Darius started popping up more often, the Mead Hall's members seemed to become a bit tamer. Draven didn't help a single bit, though._

_And I'm just trying to keep things at a moderate atmosphere._

Katarina du Couteau sighed as she walked down the streets of Noxus. Tensions between Demacia and Noxus kept her at her toes, yet her comrades seemed to take the situation lightly. This may have been mostly because of Swain not being directly related to said tensions, as they were caused by Noxian zealots gone insane.

Apparently, some sort of syndicate they did not know of was lurking around Noxus. At the moment, the members of the zealot group seemed to be active at brief times. Since they kept popping up within Demacia, however, Noxus had little power to march over and see if something was going on within their rival nation. Demacia itself kept refusing to accept Noxian troops from investigating the territory, so even less power was given to Noxus in being able to deal with the zealots.

Still, an all-out war had not broken out yet. That alone kept her relieved.

As she walked into a dark alley, she saw Twisted Fate, the Cardmaster, leaning against one of the many brick walls within Noxus. He flipped a card with a Hello Kitty head crudely plastered over it.

"Heya, kitten-"

"F#$% off."

And so, Twisted Fate sighed and got off of the wall. Without a single word, he glowed briefly before vanishing, leaving only a bit of bright particles to linger around where he once stood.

Twisted Fate was one of the many pests that kept bothering the Noxian Mead Hall. He was not as annoying as Twitch, who did not appear in the Mead Hall as of recent meetings.

Katarina scratched the back of her head as she walked deeper into the alley.

Soon, she took a small flight of stairs that led her to a small door. Opening the door, she took out a key and unlocked the door behind the first door.

_I never saw the purpose of putting two doors in here,_ she thought to herself as she entered the secret Noxian Mead Hall.

Locking the door behind her, the red-haired woman was greeted by the usual living-room sized Mead Hall. She saw Sion wearing a pink apron as his head darted towards her direction with an insane amount of bloodlust behind his eyes.

Bloodlust from chopping onions.

"_**WELCOME**_," Sion greeted in the most natural way he could possibly muster, "_**TO THE MEAD HALL! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**_"

Katarina swore that Sion did not act like a lunatic before his downfall long ago.

"Yeah, yeah," she mumbled as she took a seat next to where Talon usually sat at.

"_**How… was your DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!**_"

"It was decent," the Couteau answered, as Sion proceeded to flip the basket of onions in his hands as he smashed it against a frying pan. "I got hit on by some guys, but I taught them a painful lesson."

At the mention of Katarina getting "hit," Sion dropped the frying pan on the stove as he turned to her, his eyes on fire.

"_**THEN VENGEANCE WILL BE MINE! WHO HIT YOU?!**_"

"…Uh… Like I said, I got _hit on_, not literally attacked. In other words, some guys tried to look cool in front of me."

Sion remained still, his anger-induced expression unwavering.

He then turned his body around like a robot before cooking again. The angry expression disappeared slowly.

_I swear that he needs a buff for his head,_ Katarina thought as she readjusted her seat.

Swain, the feared leader of Noxus, carried a Game Boy Advance as he slowly pressed the buttons of his device.

"…What are you playing this time?" The red-haired woman asked.

"Pokemon."

"Which edition?"

"Fire Red."

It seemed that Swain enjoyed completing his Pokemon cartridges. Katarina took out one of her daggers and placed her hand on the table, stabbing at the gaps between her fingers.

A few minutes passed, and soon, Swain suddenly spoke,

"I have a new member coming to the Mead Hall."

Sion and Katarina stopped what they were doing. Sion nearly dropped his food on the ground, and Katarina nearly dropped the knife on her ring finger.

A new member? After an entire year of not accepting members?

"Must be a useful person," Katarina mused as she twirled her dagger before continuing her little game. "You haven't accepted anyone in a long time."

"Indeed, he is a useful person."

A few seconds later, the door slammed open as an unfamiliar figure marched in. Katarina picked up a cup of water and drank from it as she turned to the entrance-

-only to spit it out.

A man- no, a _thing_\- marched in. White fur stuck out of the back of his bony head, and some sort of weird mask was pasted over the newcomer's face. With a red lantern and a suspicious-looking scythe in both of his hands, the creature raised his arms as he exclaimed,

"_**AYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY WHERE DA KUSH AT?!**_"

"_**WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!**_"

The red man laughed, his voice echoing across the Mead Hall as he announced,

"My name is Fresh. Fresh Prince. I'm a supermarket clerk."

Katarina's face slammed against the table.

Swain clapped as his eyes shined, full of expectations.

"The Fresh Prince of Noxus has arrived, I see!" The Master Tactician stood up from his chair, only to sit back down because of his crippled leg. "I did that on purpose, by the way."

"You do everything on purpose."

Again, Swain's eyes shined. "I like you, Fresh! You know how to talk well. You've shown promise ever since you brought order to one of the most chaotic districts in Noxus… through the only way Noxian warriors could solve problems!"

"It's all because I'm respecting you on purpose."

Though the last statement did not seem like a compliment, Katarina decided Swain had a lot of trust in this whatever-the-heck-it-was.

Needless to say, she was less than convinced that "Fresh" was really just a supermarket clerk, considering how he had a spooky lantern and a freaking sharp-looking scythe. And rugged Ionian armor, out of all things…

* * *

…

…

…

Hecarim found the cold air to be annoying.

After landing in some random river, the centaur did his best to charge out of the place due to the sheer amount of people around him… But he ended up trotting all the way to some snowy land. He presumed he was heading to the Freljord, and it sounded better than going to a place full of people. He just wished that the cold was a bit more bearable.

Something about the white skies bothered him.

"This is stupid," he muttered as the green fire within him gained a peaceful, grey color.

According to one of Karthus's archived Wikipedia, there were several roads to Freljord. Hecarim was taking none of them at the moment. He kept trotting down a pitch-white world, with several mountains far in the horizon.

As the Shadow of War grumbled on about Karthus' magic being unreliable, he did not notice a bird composed of feathery ice watching him from the skies. After remaining in the air for a few moments, the bird slowly descended.

On his way to nowhere in particular, the centaur noticed a bright feather fall on the ground in front of him. He reached over to the feather and picked it up. The feather glowed a bright, warm light.

"..."

Hecarim looked up, but he saw nothing. Strange, considering how he could sense the aura of warmth from somewhere within the skies. The snow that fell, however, blinded him from properly confirming the presence of a living thing.

More feathers fell in front of him in a straight line.

A path.

Could someone have spotted him? The Shadow of War thought about the idea of being led into a trap. If it truly was a trap, then those who planned on trapping him would regret attacking him. Hardening his heart, the Shadow Isles general trotted to the path of feathers.

_There __**better**__ be something worthwhile here,_ he thought to himself. _If this doesn't lead to a town I can temporarily reside in, I'm going to punch a kitten and feed its corpse to a vulture._

And thus, the centaur's journey down the path began.

* * *

…

…

…

Kalista made a tent of sticks and leaves. At the moment, she considered hunting creatures for food, but then she realized she was an undead, and that she had no need for food.

She still wanted to taste something good, though.

_Is there anything worthwhile in the jungle? _She thought as she left her tent of sticks and leaves. After walking for twenty minutes, the Spear of Vengeance came across something unnatural.

The dark-haired Shadow Isles officer approached a group of trees that had been slashed down. Strangely enough, the slashed areas were marked with a strange, purple tinge. It seemed as if a blade had cut the trees down in a single strike.

She presumed it was the fearsome Beastial Huntress without a single bit of hesitation.

The woman took a step back, only to feel her feet touch something metallic. She looked down and found a bola lying on the ground.

She presumed it was the fearsome Beastial Hunterss yet again without a single bit of hesitation.

_We must keep our eyes peeled,_ she thought to herself as she retreated hastily. Meanwhile, a certain huntress proceeded to make a mud cake in case she met Kalista again. She had her own kitchen, after all. Sort of.

* * *

…

…

…

Twisted Fate warped into a club within Zaun, sighing as he muttered something about Katarina not appreciating his choice of words.

The instant moment he took several steps into the club, however, he noticed a familiar… person… in the club.

Someone he really did not want to meet right at the moment.

"Hey, Twister Master," a fiery-haired, blue-skinned woman said as she approached the Card Master. "Or was it _Twisted Fate?_"

The Card Master shook his head as he readjusted his hat.

"Out of all places, huh? What're you here for?"

The Widowmaker grinned as she tapped the Card Master by his shoulder.

"Let's head outside."

"How about a big, fat, disheartening 'No,' dear?"

Evelynn punched the Card Master in the face, sending him straight out of the club. As the doors slammed open from the impact of his body, the Shadow Isles officer grinned as she walked towards the man.

"Out of all times," she whispered with glee, "you happen to show up when I'm lost. What a perfect timing!"

Twisted Fate coughed as he stood back up, dusting his coat and readjusting his hat. "Seriously, whaddya want? I don't understand the 'Language of the Fist,' lady."

"Weeeeeeeeell…"

The Widowmaker glanced at the dark skies of Zaun as she put a finger by her lips. She then smiled brightly as she bonked a fist against an open palm of her hand.

"Aha! Become my slave!"

"_**NO WAY IN HELL IS THAT HAPPENING ANY SOONER!**_"

The Card Master seemed like he was in the season of excessive sighing. It would have served him well if his power to warp did not have many restraints to it. The fact that he had to wait a long time just made it somewhat inconvenient for him sometimes.

Especially times like these.

"You wouldn't be loitering around a place like this," Twisted Fate said, "unless you have a good reason to do so."

At his statement, the blue-haired Shadow Isles officer's bright smile turned into a scheming grin.

"Of course I do," she said as she approached the Card Master.

Twisted Fate wondered if Lady Luck was super angry at him or something.

* * *

…

…

…

"_**-LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-DYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! WON'T YOU SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVE MEEEE?! MAH HEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRT BELOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONGS TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!**_"

Vi clutched her ears as one of the most recent prisoners sang her a song the instant moment she entered his cell for a simple checkup. Karthus put all of his heart and effort to describe how much he wanted to leave the cell (without murdering every single person in the department, which would inevitably get him in trouble).

"_**LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY! CAN YOU FORGIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH?! FOR ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL I'VE DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!**_"

Vi cringed as she let out a loud groan under Karthus' beautiful singing.

"**OooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**_**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-**_

"_**HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!-**_"

The Piltover Enforcer finally snapped and punched Karthus in the face. And when the pink-haired Enforcer left the Deathsinger's cell, Karthus remained silent for a few seconds.

He then whispered,

"_She's Gone._"

Vi came back to punch him in the face again before she completely left the prison.

* * *

…

…

…

A vast land of sand.

No rules to govern those who roamed the wasteland.

An old Piltover-engineered vehicle flew over a sand dune as it landed on the sand, a few other technologically inferior transportation devices following suite. The large truck zipped around as it dodged a series of gunfire and bombs and received minimal damage. The sand around the vehicles burst into the air as the wind blew, scattering the tiny particles across the empty air.

The door of the truck's driver swung open as a man with a shovel on his back pointed a grenade launcher at the foes following him.

One by one, he destroyed each and every man that dared to follow him. One by one, they turned into a spectacle of fire and sand. And as they all combined into a massive fire within the hot desert, the driver got back in the truck, shut the door, and wordlessly moved on.

Time passed by.

A single truck trudged its way down the frozen desert. The storm had passed.

Eventually, the man came across solid ground. A small cliff stood out awkwardly in the middle of the Shurima desert. The man let his truck slowly climb its way up the cliff. A few minutes later, he had come to a brief stop.

The driver got off the truck and took out some gasoline tanks, adding fuel to his vehicle. Tossing the empty canisters away, the lone victor of the firefight walked to the edge of the cliff.

Nothing but sand, bandits, and unknown terrors lay in the desert of Shurima.

He remembered one of the bandits he had just slain asking, _"What's yer name, punk? No one goes around the desert alone unless they have a death wish!"_

And he was not Yorick Mori in the desert.

He had answered,

"_My name is Max."_

* * *

…

…

…

A certain redhead in a white dress walked down the Demacian streets.

Ever since she had been separated from her fellow officers, she had arrived in Demacia with nothing but herself. A few minutes after her arrival, a kind innkeeper offered her a free room for the day due to her utterly devastated appearance. Free inn rooms! Demacia was a much nicer place than she thought it would be.

There were so many people she could have taken advantage of. Yet, Elise kept her cool and simply played the kind woman she always did outside of battles. After all, the Ruined King stated that she could find more happiness if she stayed as she did when she was not tying people up for her own pleasure. As selfish as she sounded, she did enjoy wrapping people in her webs… But if the Ruined King desired her to do so, then she would cast that image away in any public area outside of the Shadow Isles. She needed to show that the Isles had class, after all.

Adjusting into Demacia was quite easy! She ended up temporarily residing with a small family of farmers. Again, there were so many people that could be taken advantage of! She thankfully did not go overboard, however, and controlled herself to keep her cover.

News of Lord Mordekaiser being in Demacia quickly arrived to Elise. She could tell that "Kaiser" was Mordekaiser; the Shadow Isles general did not even try hiding his appearance! But perhaps that was what she liked about the inspirational officer. He was like a huge chunk of confidence and power, making him an ideal wall to lean against in hard times. Not that she had many hard times, but she still remembered him teaching her the many joys of useless activities that did not benefit humanity whatsoever!

The red-haired woman walked with an umbrella, defending her porcelain skin from the sun. She hummed a small tune as she wondered what kinds of deals the family of farmers would make in the marketplace later.

Soon, however, she found herself thinking about something else.

She saw the prince himself walking down the streets! There were plenty of plebians to ignore, but the one man that was clearly not a plebian was the man in red and yellow armor. The man who carried a large mace!

_Lord Mordekaiser!_

Elise's eyes sparkled as her most respected hero walked amongst the idiots who did not recognize him a single bit. He was truly a hero; to infiltrate the filthy Demacian nobles just to sap information out of them! Surely, he was different from even Lord Hecarim, who specialized more in the art of war.

Lord Mordekaiser was just good at so many different things.

_Lord Mordekaiser,_ Elise thought with joy as she unknowingly kept her gaze on his fascinatingly red armor. _He needs to notice that I am close by! Perhaps, if I give him a bit of assistance in our mission, then we would finish the job faster than the time it takes for Thresh to count to ten!_

Unbeknownst to the Master of Metal and the Demacians around him, the red-haired Spider Queen turned her direction and trailed along. She would keep her eyes on them and find the right time to talk to the lord of undead.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Here we go. J4's acid- er, fishing trip.**

**This chapter was more of an intermission than anything, so the next chapter is still called "Itsy Bitsy Spider-Out-Of-Freaking-Nowhere!"**

**Also, I have prepared more fun facts! These will be centered around the old Steel Revolution and a bit of the new one. There are ten!**

**.**

_**Fun Fact 1:**_** The only champion Margaret Clementine played as after she hit eventually hit Level 12 is none other than Mordekaiser, the Master of Metal. She played him at every lane and role. Her total score between Level 12 and Level 20 is 66 Wins / 16 Losses.**

_**Fun Fact 2:**_** Mercedes was fifty years old in the Old Steel Revolution. He is actually forty years old in the Reboot. His actual name in the Old SR is Mercury, but in Reboot, this was changed so that his nickname was now his actual name.**

_**Fun Fact 3:**_** Xin Zhao in the old Steel Revolution was a closet otaku. In the Reboot, instead, he is something completely different. Look forward to the magnificent reveal of his secret!**

_**Fun Fact 4:**_** Jarvan IV in the Old Steel Revolution was actually set to be accurate to his actual personality, but I decided to make him a salty prince instead. Now he's a bit different, despite still sharing some traits to his old self (such as the Shyvana Dissing Sessions).**

_**Fun Fact 5:**_** Kassadin is still good at what he does.**

_**Fun Fact 6:**_** There is a specific reason as to why Elise "hated" Thresh in the Old Steel Revolution. This has been carried over to the Reboot, but it has still not been revealed.**

_**Fun Fact 7:**_** Most characters in the Old Steel Revolution were based on each characters' general playerbases and their actual personalities. They basically parodied themselves.**

_**Fun Fact 8: **_**Mordekaiser's most played video game in the Old Steel Revolution is "Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition." In the Reboot, his most played video game at the beginning of the story is actually "Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin."**

_**Fun Fact 9: **_**Mordekaiser has actually received some of his Juggernaut Rework changes applied to him in the Reboot! Check out "Creepy Pasta" and see if you can find a bit of it!**

_**Fun Fact 10:**_** The "Steel Revolution Exclusive" character who received the most positive reception is Mercedes, with Clementine being the most requested for a return in the Reboot (for reasons I do not know well).**

**.**

**Also, the song Karthus sings in this chapter is "She's Gone," to those who want a reference.**

**See you in the next chapter!**

**-NK-**


	14. ARE WE SERIOUSLY REBOOTING THIS AGAIN

_"Are we seriously rebooting this again?" -NarayanK_

* * *

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Now, the particularly interesting situation involving five iconic Shadow Isles champions sitting at a small round table in a white room could easily cause a raise of eyebrows. But that's not the important part here.

Because you see, Riot finally did some drastic changes to their lores.

"So now I'm REALLY bloodthirsty," Mordekaiser said as he threw aside some of his lore changes listed on his papers. "And apparently, I'm the great-great-great-grandfather of Noxus. Did I mention my castle is being used by an old man with a stupid bird called Beatrice?"

"And I'm a backstabber," Hecarim stated as he scratched his head. "So technically, I should be labeled as an _assassin._ That... doesn't make sense, but I guess it works if you think really hard about it."

"And now I'm something completely different," Thresh said. "I guess you could say that this lore _pales_ to my popularity. Get it? Because I apparently had pale skin before? Right?...

"... Don't look at me like that."

"I have sisters," Karthus whispered as he started screaming like there was no tomorrow. "**HOLY CRAP I HAVE SISTERS!**"

"I'm still the same."

Everyone turned to Yorick.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Yorick smiled soullessly as he commented, "One day."

"ANYWAY!" Mordekaiser bellowed as he smashed the table in half, standing up as he did so. "We've got some huge problems here."

Stomping over to a whiteboard that everyone swore was not there before, the lord of undead furiously scribbled some incomprehensible words on the thing before throwing a marker at the ground.

"_**HUGE PROBLEMS!**_"

The Master of Metal- or _Iron Revenant_, to be up-to-date- explained,

"First things first, the lore changes the author's plans for this shiny Reboot. And by change, I mean change a _lot._ Since this Reboot was meant to be fairly source-accurate, this means that nearly everything here could be considered to be nonsense. That's just how the Reboot worked.

"There's ALSO the fact that **_WE'RE FACING THE SAME DAMN PROBLEM WE HAD IN THE ORIGINAL STORY! WE'RE _****_STUCK_****_! _**How on God's green piece-of-sh_**#%**_ can we get stuck after promising our fans so much?!"

"...Maaaaaaaaaybe it's _because_ we did a reboot?" Thresh asked. "I mean, this story was supposed to be a freakin' _**crack fiction**_, and then it transformed into a simple comedy fiction. And comedy fictions don't exactly need to be source-accurate like adventure-driven stuff like this."

"Or maybe," Karthus said, "it's because of the lack of a League of Legends? I mean, you have to admit that despite being non-canon, the Institute was what allowed all of the champions to interact with each other. That also means more non-canon things could be allowed."

"And there was a severe lack of mermaids in this story," Hecarim stated.

"And me," Yorick gloomily pointed out.

Mordekaiser sighed. So clearly, something had gone wrong while they were trying to come up with more exciting ideas. What could they really do?

Well, that's where I come in.

"F_**$%#**_ off, NK."

And so, I f_**#$%**_ed off and let Mordekaiser solve this problem on his own. I did sell my soul to him, you know.

"Anyway, we're coming up with **ANOTHER. FREAKING. DECISION.** And this time, _**IT WILL BE OUR LAST DAMN CHANCE!**_ Behold, my foolish friends: a beautiful flowchart of ideas that our readers can help us out with!"

The lord of undead revealed a big plan he had been hiding!

* * *

**Ideas**

_Okay, let me be honest here, Steel Revolution (Reboot) has been cancelled solely because of lore changes and a sudden realization that the Reboot was completely different from the original story and did not achieve its charming points. With these things in mind, here are the concepts that can save the Shadow Isles champions from losing their jobs at my fanfiction page!_

**1.** **The Everyman **: _One year was enough. Two years was taking it too far. Mordekaiser finally destroys the world's population and enslaved everyone for trying to interrupt his Dark Souls sessions. But now that everyone is his slave, he has no choice but to live by their side for an agonizing eternity._

This particular story takes place in a destroyed Runeterra, where every champion other than the Shadow Isles members have their souls enslaved to Mordekaiser. All of them end up bothering him instead of serving him.

**2\. Adamantium Rumble** : _The Institute of War was known for doing some bizarre things. Having isolated himself for six months, Mordekaiser returns to the Fields of Justice. But he is tasked to do a new horrifying task: become a teacher and educate the champions of the League on common etiquette and intellectual knowledge._

Adamantium Rumble is similar to the original Steel Revolution, but with an abnormal twist to it. Somewhat accurate to canon lores.

**3\. Steel Re-Revolution **: _(*insert old Steel Revolution description here*)_

Basically the old Steel Revolution. While it will have certain changes here and there, this will be the most accurate to the old Steel Revolution. This puts very small regard to canon lore and mostly disregards various key things to maintain its humorous nature.

* * *

"You, reader, have the opportunity to decide how we can entertain you," Mordekaiser stated. "Your reason? You can have _ANY_ reason!

"_**JUST GIVE US SOME TIME AND WE SHALL RESURRECT WHAT THE STEEL REVOLUTION SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT IN THE FIRST PLACE!**_"

Thresh screamed, "_**I LOVE YOU!**_"

The Iron Revenant smashed Thresh's face with a mace.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

**plz help me**

**A poll will be up on my profile. Please fill it out by the end of October!**

**-NK-**


	15. FLAVOR TESTS FOR THE IDEAS

_"Well that was fast." -NarayanK_

* * *

**FIVE DAYS LEFT BEFORE THE SECOND REBOOT**

* * *

Mordekaiser stared at what appeared to be early poll results.

But really, now that he thought about it, if the voters did not know that much about what they were exactly voting for, then there was the risk of a reboot coming out again because they did not like it as much as what they thought it would be. In order to avoid complications, there needed to be some measures...

Which was why he thought about doing something different this time rather than listening to the author.

"Author," he muttered as he tossed aside the poll results, "how about we give a brief glimpse as to what we have in store?"

I stop typing endlessly and stare at the Iron Revenant as if he just lost his mind. My drafts were unfinished, after all. I had every right to-

"You do not have any right to disobey me, author."

And so, I decided to comply to Mordekaiser's command and prepared to upload some drafts for Mordekaiser's ideas.

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_The following content provides context to the __**FIRST **__Reboot idea._

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**The Everyman**

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Mordekaiser won.

It was no video game he beat. It was no board game he obliterated. He had officially brought an iron hand down and smashed apart the opposition. No longer did the Demacian steel pester his necromancy, and no longer did Noxus fill up his old castle with countless pests.

Yes. The Shadow Isles had become victorious.

His castle, the Immortal Bastion, had been used to contain the capital of Noxus. But now that he drove all of those wretches out of the way, he became king to his old home once more. The dead trudged through new soil, and the survivors that escaped his deathly clutches had run off to a very small portion of Ionia, which had also been conquered.

He sat in his throne, thinking of something. He pondered as he let some metal shards float aimlessly in his throne room.

And then he came to a realization.

_Today is a sale day for video games._

Standing up from his throne, the Iron Revenant marched out of his throne room.

He left the gigantic structure he set up within his castle. Greeted by countless of undead souls, the lord of undead walked down the once-Noxian streets, a somewhat excited look on his face.

Because ever since killing idiots that called him a "tin can" became one of his favorite hobbies, playing video games had caught his interest.

The Piltoverian video games were truly a wonder. They let him go absolutely nuts in new worlds that had yet to be conquered. Yes; one day, he would try and see if he could conquer the Mushroom Kingdom and the land of Hyrule. Only then would he become a true conqueror, right?

...Of course not. He also had to conquer the Lylat System. There were too many things for a mortal man to conquer. To him, these worlds were all but games to him.

He never really thought of life seriously.

And really, it was hard to do so when the citizens he governed over were shooting each other in broad daylight.

"_I GOT IT FIRST,_" a scrawny undead man screamed as he pulled at some sort of cartoon figurine from an equally scrawny undead woman. "_IT'S __**MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!**__"_

_"SHUT UP, I HAVE THE CONSTITUTION TO SUPPORT MY SIDE!"_

_"What's a Constitution?"_

_"It's delicious."_

_"...What?"_

_"DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-"_

Mordekaiser snatched the figurine out of the two's hands. Blinking, the two undead citizens stared at the Iron Revenant. They glanced at each other before turning to the lord that granted them all of Valoran to live on.

But no one gave a sh_**#%**_ about being granted new land if their personal belongings were taken.

"_**GIVE IT BACK!**_" The two screamed, startling the lord of undead.

"The hell? I haven't even talked yet! You idiots... Haven't you realized how quickly this problem could have been solved-"

The Iron Revenant snapped the figurine cleanly in half as he raised the pieces in the air.

"-if you just _divided it evenly?!_"

The two undead gasped as they received their pieces. With their problem solved, the undead citizens thanked the Master of Metal as he walked away.

_I'm so awesome,_ he thought smugly. Indeed, it was easy to feel awesome if everything went his way.

As long as he stayed out of his new home as much as possible, things would remain fine...

The lord of undead took his time to buy some cheap video games as he returned to his palace of a home.

"I'm home," he muttered.

As soon as he spoke, he regretted doing so.

Running towards him was none other than Talon, the Blade's Shadow from Noxus. One of the few fleshlings to still roam the lands of Valoran, if Mordekaiser were to describe it eloquently.

"You've got to help me, Mordekaiser!" The living Noxian screamed. "He's at it again!"

"Who is...?"

The lord of undead's eyes widened as he saw Kassadin chasing after Talon with a road roller.

A road roller.

A purple road roller.

"**_WHAT THE FU-_**"

A large explosion consumed the entrance of the palace as soon as Kassadin's road roller collided against Mordekaiser. Throwing Talon off of himself, the Master of Metal sat up and clenched a fist, his eyes burning with a fire that could be made possible by only himself.

"Damn you, Voidwalker!" Mordekaiser roared as Kassadin laughed. "Bother this bag of flesh all you want, but don't lump your antics with me!"

Kassadin's only response was him vanishing through a purple portal. The instant moment the man vanished, a skinny pale girl with long blue hair leapt from a nearby staircase and jumped on the Iron Revenant, smashing his back against the ground.

"_**MORDEKAISER!**_" Jinx sobbed as she raised the remains of what appeared to be one of her treasured firearms. "_**DUM-DUM JUST DIED! CAN'T YOU BRING HIM BACK WITH YOUR SPOOKY POWERS?!**_"

"_**GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!**_"

As the iron man struggled to throw aside the insanely hyperactive Loose Cannon, a figure with large gauntlets tore Jinx off of the Master of Metal. Jinx squirmed with an admirably fast speed as she continued to sob about her "dead" weapon.

"Good work, Enforcer," Mordekaiser said as he sat up yet again.

Only to have a foot force him back down.

"_**WHY ISN'T ANYONE LETTING ME GET UP IN MY OWN PALACE?!**_"

"Morde," Vi seethed as the weight of her foot rapidly increased. "What is this rumor going on about me having a _fine man's pride_, and that I'm doing very questionable things with the Sheriff of Piltover?"

The Iron Revenant paled as he blurted out, "_THAT WAS AN ACCIDE- ER, INCIDENT THAT I DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT- _Wait a minute, _**WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL OF YOU BEING MY SLAVES ANYWAY?! THERE WAS A DEAL, AND YOU ACCEPTED IT, SO YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO MY-**_"

"_**DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!**_"

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Far away, the whispers of few undead children filled a playground constructed by their mighty king.

"Hey, did you hear?" One child whispered. "The dead aren't the only people who inhabit this place."

"Really?" Another child whispered.

"Yeah. I heard that there are scary things that are imprisoned in the palace.

"Scary _living_ things that only our king can handle..."

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**The Everyman -END-**

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_Explanation for __**The Everyman**__:_

The Everyman takes place after Mordekaiser defeats almost all of Valoran in its entirety. Having defeated the champions in each of their respective worlds, he now keeps them as prisoners within his palace. But they're way too needy, and he finds it almost impossible to keep them alive as useful minions without ending up with a serious urge to kill them. This follows the canon lore the most, and there is no Institute of War, but it can disregard certain character personalities established by Riot for the sake of comedy.

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_The following content provides context to the __**SECOND**__ Reboot idea._

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**Adamantium Rumble**

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_(The following content is from within the middle of one of the experimental chapters of Adamantium Rumble)_

_**From: **__Chapter "Courteous As Balls"_

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Another day, another lesson.

Mordekaiser slammed the chalkboard behind him as he roared, rewarding himself with a startled class's attention. He was the teacher of the last class, and to live up to his reputation as the Iron Revenant, he needed to show something better than Hecarim's stupid-as-f_**#$%**_ lesson on finding Nemo and Thresh's incomprehensible lesson on dividing by zero. The Shadow Isles champions were known to be geniuses of idiocy and everything bad; Mordekaiser needed to prove that wrong and show that they can also be geniuses in general.

Of course, he did not argue against the idea that the Shadow Isles was _so _full of "wrong" in it.

"Alright, listen up!" The lord of undead bellowed as he picked up a white chalk and scribbled something on the chalkboard. "Today, we're going to be learning something that you probably never heard of before."

As he revealed the topic of the day, some of the champions expressed horror. Some of them wondered what was strange about the lesson in hand.

"_**COURTESY, AND HOW IT APPLIES TO YOU AS WELL!**_"

Vladimir screamed and melted into a pool of blood. Ironically enough, though Rengar looked like he was about to start up a sh_**#%**_storm, Kha'Zix remained calm and stared at the board wordlessly. Even Jarvan and Swain seemed to cringe, which made their comrades question their capabilities as leaders just a bit.

Just a bit.

"As you know, courtesy is non-exis- er, existent among all sentient beings," the lord of undead boomed, chucking the chalk to some corner he could not care less about. "Courtesy is a must when you want to impress others, and applies to many life-related thingy things such as letting women go first in a lunch line, _not_ eating the last pizza, killing someone as gently as possible and maybe even trading drugs in a professional manner.

"In the case that you do not know courtesy, people will look down on you like you're an impudent cat rather than a calm beast. Courtesy isn't always shown through the 'ooh-la-la' ways of Demacia or Ionia, however. In Noxus, free market salesmen show courtesy by offering cheaper prices for things, assassins give their victims at least five seconds to run before their inevitable death, and so on forth. It doesn't have to be delicate. Do you know where I'm getting through with this?"

The Demacian champions kept confused and almost offended expressions as even the Noxians internally questioned what Mordekaiser just implied. Nevertheless, they nodded the instant moment they remembered Malphite getting thrown out of a window when he said the lord of undead's explanations were kind of stupid.

Also, Malphite himself remained as stoic as possible in order to avoid Mordekaiser's attention.

Mordekaiser accepted the silence as a big fat _No._

"So some of you do not know courtesy," Mordekaiser stated as he nodded. "Yes, that is understandable.

"Because I myself do not know how to be courteous."

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Some of the champions wondered,

_**Then why the crap are you teaching us how to be courteous?**_

Unfortunately, not everyone seemed to realize that what Mordekaiser claimed was utterly ridiculous. After recovering from his own shock, Vladimir bolted up from his seat despite Warwick's fervent warnings.

"Teacher," Vladimir said as he closed his eyes softly. "Perhaps it would make sense if we show you our country's forms of courtesy?"

_Oh heavens_, Garen thought as several of the more sane champions paled, _this is __**not**__ going to end well._

However, the Might of Demacia decided to- just once- trust the Iron Revenant's common sense to say "No" to Vladimir's offer. After all, if he did accept, then-

"That is a very good point, Vlad."

Garen cursed himself for jinxing something that should not have been jinxed.

"Everyone!" Mordekaiser roared. "**To the Auditorium!**"

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**Adamantium Rumble -END-**

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_Explanation for __**Adamantium Rumble**__:_

Adamantium Rumble actually derives from both the canon lore and the old lore by mixing them up together. While most of the character lores are established to be somewhat canon here, the Institute of War is actually built and is introduced as a very new organization to prevent the utter destruction of any countries. Adamantium Rumble has an extremely similar nature to the old Steel Revolution in terms of character interaction, but it focuses much less on the League of Legends battles, extremely random events, and parodies; it focuses more on humorizing existing philosophies in the real world, featuring school humor intensely enhanced by the lack of rules in Mordekaiser's "school system," and providing a story that would have been generic had it not been for the characters of League of Legends mucking it up as sarcastically as it possibly could.

It also features much less realistic violence in return for several new forms of violence.

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_The following content provides context to the __**THIRD**__ Reboot idea_

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**Steel Re-Revolution**

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_(The following content is from one of the experimental chapters of Steel Re-Revolution)_

_**From: **__Chapter "Maven's Rock"_

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"My dad's coming over."

Hecarim and Mordekaiser dropped their Game Boys as everyone turned to Thresh. It had been a lovely day at Karthus' dormitory. So far, nothing out-of-ordinary threatened their lack of productivity. Even Kalista seemed calm enough to be a bit lazy.

And then Thresh walked into the dormitory and dropped a bomb.

"Did you just walk up slowly and throw a huge chunk of news at us?" Hecarim whispered.

"Nah, I was just kidding."

Elise took one of Kalista's spears and threw it at Thresh, pinning him against a wall. Still, everyone felt relieved that what Thresh said was not true. From what they remembered, their last impression of Thresh's parents were more than just disappointing.

It was almost horrifying.

As the Shadow Isles champions settled down, several knocks came from the door.

"What the..?" Yorick muttered as he carefully put down the fresh batch of cookies he just made. "I'm pretty sure there's no one else from the Shadow Isles to visit this place."

"It might be Maokai."

"Maokai said he's not visiting in our meeting room for an eternity because of you, Thresh."

"...Oh. Who is it, then?"

Everyone in the room remained silent. They all glanced at each other slowly, though Mordekaiser seemed preoccupied with saving his game.

The lord of undead looked up a little too late, for as soon as he realized why every Shadow Isles officer fell silent, everyone excluding the Iron Revenant screamed,

"_**NOT IT!**_"

Karthus cleared his throat due to screaming too loudly. Thresh laughed as he pointed at the iron man. "Get the door, Morde!"

And so, the Master of Metal did go to answer the door after caving Thresh's face in. Funnily enough, Thresh crashed into the same wall he got pinned to by Elise.

The lord of undead opened the door, expecting something like an angry Jarvan IV. Or maybe even a questionably dressed Taric.

Instead, he was greeted by a fragile Maven of Strings.

"...Ah," he said as he loosened the fist he prepared for some smug champion's snarky remark. "It's you, woman."

"_G-Good morning, Lord Mordekaiser,_" Sona said as she bowed politely. "_How are you today?_"

"Decent. Thresh nearly ruined my day."

After remaining quiet for a few seconds, the Iron Revenant asked curiously, "Are you here for something?"

The Maven of Strings perked up before her eyes darted to the ground. Looking back up, the woman told him,

"_If I am not mistaken, you have told me to visit you for... **that.**_"

**That.**

**That**, she said.

What did she mean by _that_, the Shadow Isles champions wondered silently as they stopped what they were doing to listen into the conversation. They pretended to laze around as Mordekaiser and Sona continued to talk.

"Ah, **that**, you say." Mordekaiser nodded as he remembered whatever it was. "Yes, I need to give it to you as soon as possible, after all."

"_I-I do not want to come off as selfish, b-but... I really need it as soon as possible. I am powerless until we do... it._"

"I mean, a change of rhythm might be needed to the music piece you are going to compose, so that's understandable."

"_Yes... Yes, it would be needed._"

"Are you sure it won't hurt you, though?"

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..._Hurt?_

"_I-I am fully prepared. Though it is my first time-_"

_First time?!_

"-_I will do my best!_"

"Hmph. Your specs are enough to make it a ten out of ten."

**_Specs?!_**

The Maven of Strings nodded as heat entered her cheeks.

_**Heat entering her cheeks?!**_

After the two chattered for a minute, Sona left the meeting room. Mordekaiser sighed as he snatched the Game Boy he put on the dining table as he announced,

"I will be out for the entirety of the day. Have fun-"

"_**THE ENTIRETY OF THE DAY?!**_" The Shadow Isles officer screamed, startling the Iron Revenant by surprise.

"Bruh, I know it's tempting," Thresh whispered seriously, "but you really have to control your metal urges. I know what you're going for."

"...What am I exactly going for?"

"Her strings."

Hecarim punched Thresh as he shouted, "Did you find a mermaid with her or something? TELL ME WHAT IT IS!"

Grabbing the Iron Revenant by his shoulders, the Shadow of War screamed like a girl as he demanded, "_**TELL MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!**_"

Mordekaiser headbutted the centaur, effectively knocking him away. Tears formed in Elise's eyes as she sniffled. "You're having... an affair with a Demacian woman? Oh, how could you...! THIS IS SO UNFAIR! I DIDN'T EVEN GET A HUSBAND YET!"

Evelynn blinked as she pointed out, "But you said you don't consider anyone other than Mordekaiser to be a man."

"_THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I'M SAYING, EVE!_"

As Evelynn dragged Elise into Karthus' bedroom to calm her down in a place where Mordekaiser would be unable to punch her, Kalista thought over what Elise said.

She looked up at the iron man.

"..."

"...What?"

The dark-haired Spear of Vengeance whispered,

"Lewd."

"Huh?" Mordekaiser tilted his head as he asked, "Is 'lewd' a cup noodle brand or something?"

Karthus and Yorick glanced at each other. From what they could gather, Mordekaiser did not plan on doing terrible things to the Maven of Strings. And it made sense, because he was probably too stupid to even think about such things before throwing out random violence. And since it seemed like it was related to something the Iron Revenant actually enjoyed...

Something probably metal...

There was one easy conclusion the two could come up with.

The two Shadow Isles officers turned to Mordekaiser, who noticed them staring at him. They then asked,

"Are you perhaps...?"

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**Steel Re-Revolution -END-**

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_Explanation for **Steel Re-Revolution**:_

Despite being described as a true successor to the original Steel Revolution, Steel Re-Revolution has its own notable differences. First things first, like the Steel Revolution, Steel Re-Revolution features the interaction of champions together (like the other ideas noted above). Unlike the two other ideas, it stays truest to being close to its predecessor. The plot for Steel Re-Revolution, like Adamantium Rumble, is fairly weak in return for serving its comedic purpose. Unlike the other ideas, however, Steel Re-Revolution will be the easiest to make new chapters for due to its simplistic nature. It still will have plot, but it will be pretty delayed compared to the original. Keep in mind that there will be notable differences within some of the existing chapters. This means that some chapters like "BEACH" and "A Chill Day at McDonalds" will show extremely new things!

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Mordekaiser nodded.

"So yeah," he muttered. "You better pick one of these ASAP. In fact, if it's clear that one vote is favored A LOT over the others, then the process might actually speed up. But don't hasten yourself and go nuts with the voting system!

"At the moment, _Steel Re-Revolution_ is going pretty far in the votes. A surprise, really! I thought me getting tortured is the last thing you wanted to see. Right, my fans?"

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"...Let's go with a **yes.**

"_Adamantium Rumble_'s got several votes, and _Everyman_'s got a measly amount. Keep in mind that **whatever vote that makes second place and third place will become open-source and be up for adoption!** Metal never dies, and even if those stories never see the light of the day, they will at least have the chance to return out of nowhere one day!"

Mordekaiser laughed as he summoned his mace, smashing it against the white ground underneath him.

"But until the day of reckoning comes, I shall wait for your answer! See you very, **VERY** soon! **_GWA HA HA HA HA! HUE HUE HUE HUE HUE HUE HUE HUE HUE HUE HUE!_**"

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**Author's Notes:**

**Mordekaiser hijacked my computer brb**


	16. AND IT'S OVER

Mordekaiser stared at one of the new stories in NarayanK's profile page.

_Well, that was fast,_ he thought as he tossed the pending poll votes aside.

A second reboot. He never thought a second reboot would actually be necessary, but heck, it seemed as if he was on the right track if the fans wanted him to go to that route. With that in mind, he wondered what would happen if he-

Oh wait, this story has finally met its end.

"...Wait, seriously?!"

Yes!

"You mean the new story is out _now_ rather than two days later?"

Yes!

"Why?"

Yes!

Mordekaiser smashed his mace against the author's head.

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**ATTENTION!**

**DUE TO BOTH FEEDBACK AND STRANGE CIRCUMSTANCES, STEEL REVOLUTION HAS RECEIVED YET ANOTHER REBOOT, WHICH MAY BE ITS FINAL ONE.**

_**STEE****L**** RE-REVOLUTION IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR READING!**_

**THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING NARAYANK, AS THE STORY MIGHT HAVE ACTUALLY COME TO A SIMPLE CANCELLATION WITHOUT ITS FANS SUPPORT. ADAMANTIUM RUMBLE AND THE EVERYMAN WILL BE UP FOR ADOPTION, SO FEEL FREE TO TAKE IT IF YOU WANT TO WRITE IT.**

**STAY METAL!**

**-NK-**


End file.
